Quick vs durable

Everything is a trade-off.

One trade-off worth considering is the one between initial cost and long-term durability.

If you need something quickly, or cheaply, it’s fine just to build anything that works, and move forward.

My family got baby chicks a few weeks ago. I need to keep them safe and warm in their own space for about 2 months.

So I put a brooder in the tool shed, built of cardboard boxes and scrap wood.

It's perfectly good enough. When I'm done with it, I'll throw it away and then build another one when we get chicks again in two years.

On the other hand, when you need something that will be easy to maintain, have a long life, and be used frequently, it’s worth putting more care into its creation.

My adult chickens will live several years. I need to keep them safe from predators and weather, in a setup that's easy to clean and easy to harvest eggs. (Yay, French toast!)

You can bet they've got something a lot better to live in than some old cardboard boxes.

The investment of time and money that I put into building that coop is paying me back year after year. It's been 4 years now, and I expect at least another 10.

Here's the thing:

Everything is a trade off.

When you need your CRM to do something quickly or once, the smart choice may be just to get it working as easily as possible.

For a durable need, the big win is probably in planning carefully.

And here's a bonus: If you're only ever doing quick one-offs, you're probably missing some significant opportunities. It's worth pausing now and then to think about where you'll be a year from now.

All the best,
A.