Phronexia

Product

Build or buy

Building looks cheaper in the estimate and more expensive in the year, and the two options are never compared on the same terms.

What this decision usually turns on

  • Total cost over a realistic horizon
  • Time to working solution
  • Maintenance burden
  • Switching cost and lock-in
  • Whether it is core to the product

These are a starting point. The first thing Phronexia does is help you decide which of them actually matter here, and what weight each one carries.

Who should be in it

  • Engineering lead
  • Product lead
  • Finance

Related decisions

Selecting a vendor

Compare vendors against weighted criteria, including the switching cost that usually goes unwritten.

Prioritizing features for a quarter

Rank competing roadmap candidates against explicit criteria, so the cut line is defensible when someone asks why their item missed.