I plan to write a series of posts regarding the journeys of building your own software. Let me start with the oddity—when not to build your own software. Over the years, I’ve developed this informal 4-question test to help people decide whether they actually need to build their own software—whether it’s a product or a custom solution for their needs. 

Are free or ready-made software enough?

Let me just say this: most of the time, people are fine with free and/or ready-made software. You are fine to use Facebook Page or an Instagram page as your website; It’s perfectly okay to use Shopify as your e-Commerce platform. In fact, I often advise people to do so. Consumer products are often very robust, with a mature feature set, and decent support. 

Does adding staff will get the job done?

The next question you should ask yourself whenever you are tempted to build your own software is: does adding staff solves the problem? Adding people—or outsourcing work—is usually a fast way to address a growing problem. For example, keeping track of a growing inventory is a challenge for a small team and adding a few staff usually solves the problem. 

Do I have existing processes?

Whenever I ask someone whether they have an existing processes, they always answer with an emphatic ‘yes’ but in reality they confuse vaguely discern-able behavior of patterns to process—people tend to have a loose definition of it. Well-conceived processes can save you from building a costly software. Take a long, hard look and ask are there really existing processes in place (with enforceable policies and supporting documents)? Have you defined them? Do people know what to do for every scenarios in each process? 

Can I afford it?

You have tools, people, and processes in place. You feel that adding a custom-designed solution in the mix would smoothen things out and yield more productivity. You ran the numbers and you’re quite sure of the result. The last question you need to ask is: “do I have the money?” Building your own software is expensive. Development cost alone is a significant investment. Maintenance and support are even bigger chunk. Unless you have think it through and decided that the pros outweigh the cons, stretch whatever you have that’s working as long as possible. 

Answering these questions with due diligence should give you legs to stand in building your own software. Next: what is the cost in building your own software?