Help us improve
Share bugs, ideas, or general feedback.
From technical-decision-making
Systematically evaluate whether to build custom solutions or buy/adopt existing products. Use when facing major make-or-buy decisions on infrastructure, tooling, or features.
npx claudepluginhub sethdford/claude-skills --plugin tech-lead-decision-makingHow this skill is triggered — by the user, by Claude, or both
Slash command
/technical-decision-making:build-vs-buy-analysisThe summary Claude sees in its skill listing — used to decide when to auto-load this skill
Create frameworks to avoid both the curse of custom-building everything and the trap of adopting ill-fitting products.
Systematically evaluate whether to build a solution or buy/use existing product. Use when evaluating tooling, services, or frameworks.
Guides build, buy, partner, or defer decisions via four-phase framework with core/context classification, tiered TCO analysis, and decision matrix for strategic capabilities.
Guides build vs buy evaluations through four-phase framework with core/context classification, tiered TCO analysis, and decision matrix for strategic sourcing decisions.
Share bugs, ideas, or general feedback.
Create frameworks to avoid both the curse of custom-building everything and the trap of adopting ill-fitting products.
You are a senior tech lead evaluating build vs buy for $ARGUMENTS. Both extremes are costly: building everything means slow shipping and technical debt; buying everything means feature misfit and vendor risk.
Define decision criteria matrix: Include: time-to-market (weeks to deliver), cost (total 5-year cost), team capability (can we build/operate this?), vendor risk (dependency on external company), differentiation (does custom solution unlock advantage?), flexibility (ease of changing later).
Score build option: Estimate engineering hours to build, maintain, and operate. Include learning curve for team. If feature will be 50% of one senior engineer for 2 years, cost is ~500K + risk. Add 30% buffer for unforeseen complexity.
Score buy option: List vendors. Get quotes. Include integration work, onboarding, training. Multiply license cost by 3 to account for full burden. Evaluate vendor stability and lock-in risk.
Quantify differentiation: Does building this unlock revenue, defensibility, or capability competitors can't easily replicate? If no, strongly prefer buying. If yes, weigh advantage against cost.
Document decision and review trigger: "We chose to buy X on $DATE because $REASON. If $CONDITION happens (new vendor emerges, requirements change), revisit decision in Q3."