Comment by endlessvoid94
2 days ago
This is the missing criteria in the technical decision making, IMO. How reliant is the team on the recruiting/retention of the current size and structure of the talent, both on the team and in the wider community?
Small teams trying to keep burn ultra low vs. giant companies might have similar technical goals but opposite staff capabilities. This is a crucial factor.
A second-order effect is how much time/energy/money you have to throw at maintenance. Can you afford to spend X% of your time on maintenance? Which technologies offer comparative advantages on maintenance cost? These are surprisingly often easy to answer, and nearly never explicitly considered!
> These are surprisingly often easy to answer
I agree that maintenance costs are often overlooked/ignored, but I'm curious how you get answers on the costs. I've never found it particularly easy to get reliable information on maintenance costs.
I guess what I was thinking was: even if you can't quantify it, you can squint at the comparative advantages and trade-offs and make a qualitative, yet objective judgement call.