Tech Stack
A tech stack is the combination of programming languages, frameworks, databases, and infrastructure tools on which an application is based. The choice of stack is a long-term economic decision: it determines how easily you find personnel, how high the maintenance costs are, and how quickly you can react to market changes.
We follow the principle of Boring Technology: we use proven, boring technologies for 90% of the system to save our valuable innovative capacity (Innovation Tokens) for those 10% that generate a real competitive advantage.
Anti-Patterns: The Hype Trap
- Resume Driven Development: Developers choose technologies only because they want them on their resume, not because they are the best solution for the problem.
- Framework Chasing: Constant switching to the latest hype framework, leading to a fragmented architecture that nobody fully understands anymore.
- Technology Zoo: Every team uses a different programming language or database, preventing knowledge sharing and causing operating costs to explode.
The Curated Stack
- Innovation Tokens: An organisation has only a limited number of tokens for new, high-risk technologies. Use them wisely for business-critical innovations.
- Standardisation (Golden Paths): Definition of a standard stack for new projects. Anyone who wants to deviate must justify this with solid reasoning (ADRs).
- Ecosystem Check: We choose technologies with a large community, excellent documentation, and a long support horizon (LTS).
- Managed Services: We use cloud services for standard components (e.g. PostgreSQL as a managed DB) instead of laboriously running them ourselves.
- Polyglot Persistence (with restraint): Using the right database for the right purpose (e.g. search via Elasticsearch, data via SQL), but without unnecessarily expanding the zoo.
The Focus: Long-Term Maintainability
A good tech stack is like a well-organised toolbox: you have the right tool for every task, but not ten different hammers.
FAQ
Don't we lose the best talents if we don't always use the latest technology?
True professionals value stability and clear guardrails. Talents who come only because of a specific framework also leave as soon as the next hype topic appears.
Can we even build features fast enough with older technology?
Yes, usually even faster. Proven technologies have fewer bugs, better libraries, and developers are more experienced with them. This saves time when tracking down errors.
Reference Guide
- Choose Boring Technology: The well-known essay by Dan McKinley. mcfunley.com
- The Tech Radar: How to systematically evaluate technological trends. Thoughtworks
- StackShare: Insights into the tech stacks of successful companies. stackshare.io