
Choosing the “best software” - deafcalculus
https://jvns.ca/blog/2017/01/24/choosing-the-best-thing/
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dsr_
This is a systems argument, not just software. It applies to choosing to do
anything. I would rearrange these points, but they are essentially correct.
You don't make changes for the sake of change or because something is cool,
you make changes when:

1\. Necessity. You need something that the current system is not doing for
you. That might be scalability, or performance, or stability, or having good
maintenance procedures, or compatibility with another system... In order to
justify this change, you must clearly understand and document what it is that
you want to do and how the existing system cannot do it.

2\. Cost. Could be dollars paid for licenses, or for consultants, or for
attention required from your own people, but excessive cost is certainly a
convincing reason to change a system. You do need to make sure that the cost
of implementing the new system isn't going to exceed the cost of keeping the
old one. That can be non-obvious.

I have lumped in "difficult" with "cost" because they are the same thing with
two names. Cost in time to change or time to learn or time to implement always
converts directly to a cost in dollars and a cost in opportunities to do
something different.

