Technical Strategy

Build vs. buy decision framework

When to use

Use when evaluating vendors, considering building internal tools, or during architecture reviews. Forces structured thinking instead of engineer-default 'let's build it'.

Prompt Template

We need to decide whether to build or buy for: {capability}. Context: {context}. Evaluate this decision across: 1. Total cost of ownership over 3 years (not just license vs. eng time) 2. Strategic differentiation (is this core to our business or commodity?) 3. Integration complexity and vendor lock-in risk 4. Team capability and maintenance burden 5. Time to value (we need this by {deadline}) 6. What we'd lose by NOT building it ourselves (institutional knowledge, customization) Give me a recommendation with your confidence level and the key assumption that would flip your answer.

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Capability

Context

Deadline

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Output Format

Decision matrix + recommendation with confidence level + assumption sensitivity analysis

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