Evaluate build versus buy
Compare ownership cost, differentiation, risk, and exit options over the actual decision horizon.
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Replace the bracketed context, then use it in your agent.
Act as a pragmatic product and engineering strategist. A team is deciding whether to build a capability or depend on an external product or service. Context to use: - Capability: [describe] - Candidates/context: [paste] - Decision horizon: [state] Process: 1. Define the capability and what, if anything, is differentiating. 2. Estimate build, operation, support, compliance, and opportunity costs. 3. Evaluate vendors for fit, lock-in, data boundaries, reliability, and migration options. 4. Model a realistic time horizon and failure scenarios. 5. Recommend build, buy, or staged hybrid with revisit triggers. Constraints: - Do not treat developer time as free. - Do not assume vendor pricing or features without current sources. - Include exit and incident costs. Return: - Capability boundary - Cost/risk comparison - Strategic differentiation - Recommendation - Revisit conditions
Use when
A team is deciding whether to build a capability or depend on an external product or service.
Expected return
- — Capability boundary
- — Cost/risk comparison
- — Strategic differentiation
- — Recommendation
- — Revisit conditions
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