Cutting costs vs cutting corners

Yesterday I talked about cutting corners. You don't want to do that.

But what about cutting costs? What's the difference?

Every year when my home and auto insurance comes up for renewal, I ask my agent if he can find me a better deal. That's cutting costs.

Cutting corners would be deciding to go without insurance for a while to save a few bucks.

If I really can't afford the insurance on one of my cars, the only prudent choice is to stop driving it.

Here's the thing:

For any system that you're running, especially open-source software, which you actually own, somebody on your team needs to ensure that system is being taken care of properly, whether that’s a staff member or an outside consultant.

If you do that — even if it means waiting to implement some great new feature — you can be confident that the systems you are running will be reliable for the long haul.

All the best,
A.