Series 28 · 5 Parts· 1h 7m

Build vs Buy vs Modernize: The Real Decision

How to decide whether to build, buy, or modernize a system that matters — the true TCO of each path, a copyable scored decision matrix, the reversibility nobody prices, and the third option that often wins.

Start reading · Part 1

Contents

01 Build vs Buy Software: Why It's Really a Three-Way Choice 13 min read Build vs buy is the wrong frame for a system that already runs your business. There are three real paths — build, buy, and modernize — plus hybrids like partner and low-code. This is the frame, and Part 1 of a five-part series on choosing between them.
02 Build vs Buy TCO: The Real 3- and 5-Year Cost 14 min read A genuine total-cost-of-ownership worksheet for build vs buy vs modernize — every line item across three and five years, with worked examples for a differentiated system and a commodity one, plus how the answer moves with scale and your assumptions. The sticker price is the smallest number in the decision.
03 Build vs Buy Decision Framework: A Weighted Matrix You Can Copy 10 min read A build vs buy decision framework that actually decides — a copyable weighted matrix scoring build, buy, and modernize across the criteria that matter, applied function by function, with the rules that stop the math from rationalizing the answer you already wanted.
04 Build vs Buy Reversibility: Exit Cost and Optionality 16 min read A weighted matrix scores today's snapshot; it says nothing about how expensive a wrong answer is to undo. This part prices reversibility — the exit cost of build, buy, and modernize — plus the hybrid paths that preserve optionality and the failure modes on both sides.
05 When Modernizing Wins: The Third Option That Beats Build and Buy 14 min read Build and buy both start by discarding the system you have. For a system whose value is the business logic embedded in it, that is the expensive mistake — and modernizing it, slice by slice under parity validation, beats both. The build-vs-buy series conclusion.