I really like this dude’s writing, so here it is:
Embrace Boredom
Let’s say, every company gets about three innovation tokens. You can spend these, however you want but the supply is fixed for a long while you might get a few more after you achieve a certain level of stability and maturity, but the general tendency is to overestimate the contents of your wallet. Clearly this model is approximate, but I think it helps. If you choose to write your website in NodeJS, you just spent one of your innovation tokens. If you choose to use MongoDB, you just spent one of your innovation tokens. If you choose to use service discovery tech that’s existed for a year or less. You just spent one of your innovation tokens. If you choose to write your own database, oh God, you’re in trouble.
“Boring” should not be conflated with “bad”. There is technology that is both boring and bad. Boring has fewer Unknown Unknowns for you to trip over. Boring doesn’t require specialized knowledge. It may not be a place where you’ll make a killing, but it won’t let you down either.
“The best tool for the job” Is often a myopic view of both “best” and “job”. The job is keeping the company going, and the best is the one that occupies the least worst position for as many problems as possible.