Options are good. If you’re stuck, it is useful to have other options available. It is worthwhile to explore what options are available before starting your project. One thing I learned is that there are always options.
Options always come at a cost. The ideal, “free” lunch is elusive, and I advise to pick your poison and go with that. It is no use waiting for the magic to happen if the alternative is making progress and learning what works.
Exploring Options
Whatever problem you are facing, there are always multiple ways to solve it. Always. Some options are not practical. Some options are not ethical. But there are options. And often there is still another way overlooked from the start.
But different approaches have different prices. While one option will make for an easy start, it will create technical debt to be solved at a later stage. Or it will create some other costs that will come back at you when your project scales exponentially.
The other option would be to do the hard work first, lay a solid foundation. Pay the price and invest in that future. So when you do scale, you are not facing a problem that has also grown exponentially along with you.
"Pick your Poison."
Picking your Balance
It is not realistic to start your project and build a foundation that will last forever. Make an assessment of how much upfront work you can tolerate now. For a startup; you want to make sure that building a foundation does not eat up too much of your runway.
Now, or in the Future?
Balance that with how much pain can you afford at a later stage. A later stage when you see the growing your project or business. With the growing pains starting to have an impact on your initial foundation. At that time, you will have to make a foundation 2.0 that will take you further. Having such ‘operating bandwidths’ helps you pick. It enables you to pick and make educated guesses. Need help on this?
