Choosing a tech stack may be a decisive factor for your product’s success. How to make the right choice? We’ll tell you!
Choosing a tech stack: a quick guide
So, you are starting a new project and responsible for its further development. Decisions on technologies, frameworks, and tools are ahead of you. How to choose wisely, and is it even possible? Websites built with Angular and Node.js are really popular nowadays. But what is the right solution for you? Below you will find some of our observations and conclusions based on the extensive experience of SECL professionals.
Learn about the business context
The more business information you have, the better for you. Knowledge of the market and competition, the company’s long-term strategy, short-term goals, current situation, the vision of founders and/or top management, and end users are essential elements for your future success. The more you know, the better for you. Just watch out for the trap of infinite analysis and trying to please everyone. An extensive understanding of the whole context will allow you to make better decisions quickly. Where can you find this information? Everywhere. The greatest emphasis is on knowledge about the market, end users, and founders.
Find a balance between the future and present
Making project decisions, especially at the initial stage, impact the entire business long-term. So it is natural that you will strive to avoid future problems. Accept one thing: problems are inevitable. Your task is only to reduce the risk of their occurrence. Include what you have (resources and knowledge) and focus on the present, having only a general vision of the future. For example, the application’s large scale and low performance are the problems you would like to have. When you start, they don’t matter (and, in many cases, never). Focus your attention on what’s important. Does that mean you can ignore future problems? NO. You have to focus on those that are really important.
Pay attention to hype
Now and then, new tools and technologies appear on the market to change our reality. Only some of them actually do it. When starting a project, it is best to rely only on proven tools with a large community. Choosing a popular technology is not a good idea except when the whole project is incredibly innovative (e.g., it uses AI). Here again, the best solution is the right balance. On the one hand, relying on proven technologies and tools is good, which many people use. On the other hand, programmers usually want to work using the latest stack. Keep this in mind because it will depend on whether you maintain the team and how easy it will be for you to recruit new people. The worst advisor here is personal preferences and decision-making in emotions.
We also do not recommend consulting experienced programmers who work with only one technology because they will recommend you the technology they use to work with themselves. This is not a good solution.
Thus: monitor the situation on the market but choose in isolation from emotions and personal preferences.
Don’t wait and leave the door open
Make decisions as soon as possible. The time for the project is almost always clearly combined with funding. The success of the entire project depends on how agile you can act to a large extent. It is better to make a bad decision quickly and just as quickly to fix it than to make a good one. At the same time, when making decisions, make sure that they are as reversible as possible and at the lowest possible cost. In case this is not possible – try to go beyond the scheme. If you still don’t find the right solution, make a decision. Every decision balances risk and anticipating consequences. This is a skill that you will gain over time.
Make the most of what you already have
Follow the advantages you already have every time. For example, if you have a React development team at your disposal, it is difficult to imagine a situation in which you start a project in Angular (but if you want to, you can consider outsourcing). Imagine that you have a team of PHP programmers, and you need to enter the JavaScript ecosystem. Then the situation gets complicated. Here, however, you still have to stick to the principle of using what you have at your disposal – for example, assess the team’s ability to change technology. This will help you make a decision. There can be many such scenarios, but it is only about one thing: first, focus on what you have; only then reach for what you can have and think about whether it is worth it.
Conclusion
Hopefully, now you have a better understanding of how to choose a technology stack. Deciding on the technological stack of the project is not easy. What can help you the most is learning about the broad business context and the ability to undertake analysis in isolation from your ego.
