Check existing options first
Custom software begins only after a material workflow gap survives product and process alternatives.
Build-or-buy decision tools
Before you build it, find out what you are taking on.
OK2Build uses hard-stop questions to decide whether a workflow should be bought, configured, built narrowly, investigated, or left unbuilt.
Name the hard stops
External identity, sensitive data, isolation, integrations, recovery, and operational ownership can block a build.
Narrow the boundary
Keep commodity and high-risk capabilities in established systems when a smaller custom layer solves the real problem.
Latest guidance
Recently published
build-decision
Should a Small Business Build a Custom Client Portal?
Use hard-stop questions about existing software, identity, client isolation, file handling, recovery, and ownership before approving a custom portal.
Publishing next
The first reporting tracks
- Should a small business build a client portal?
- When a spreadsheet should remain a spreadsheet
- How to define a safe custom-software boundary
- A pre-build operational ownership check
About this publication
A go decision should be allowed to fail.
OK2Build publishes reusable decision records with explicit alternatives, trust boundaries, hard stops, and smaller-scope options. It does not certify software as secure or compliant.
Disclosure: OK2Build is operated by the team behind Garden. Garden is considered only when a workflow fits its current employee-facing scope.