Strategy & Leadership · Leadership

The honest build-vs-buy framework

Capacity, governance maturity, time horizon — and the five questions to ask before committing either way.

11 min

Outcomes

  • Apply the four-criterion framework to your org
  • Estimate honest TCO for both paths
  • Decide and document

The four criteria

Engineering capacity, governance maturity, time horizon, workflow differentiation.

Run the framework

  1. Score your org 0–3 on each of the four criteria.
  2. Produce a one-page recommendation.
  3. Share with your VP Sales for sign-off.

Further reading