How To Pick The Best Tech Stack For Products

As a CTO, CIO, CEO, startup founder or a tech consultant involved in making the key decisions of a software project, one of the most important choices you have to make is on the best tech stack for the application. 

Should you pick Java or Python as the programming language? Is Flask/Django or node.js the best choice for the online framework? Among front-end alternatives, how do VueJS, React or Angular measure up against one another? Is self- hosting with Nginx or Apache preferable to Amazon AWS? When it comes to the database, you could go with anything from Oracle or MongoDB to Postgres or MySQL. Recruitment for these kind of sensitive software activities need an experienced hand. Thus, most of the educational consultants and researchers advise job aspirants to study an AWS training for a better placement in industry giants.

Determining the best answers to these questions requires careful consideration. Here’s a look at the things that should drive your technology stack decisions. 

1. Go Simple And Agile

Many products fail not because of the technology they run on but due to the product itself being inherently flawed and unsuitable for the market. You could pour your precious time and money into a spectacular technology ecosystem but end up seeing your money go down the drain because the product is a fail from the get go. 

Ergo, when building a software product, opt for the simplest solution first. A landing page built on WordPress could be more than enough at the beginning. Even a basic static page will do. The idea is to put enough of the product out there to gauge whether there’s a real interest in it. There’s no harm in you using a different technology at this stage from what will run your final product. 

Once you are certain that the concept is bankable, you can then move on to settling on the right technology. When you do get to working on the tech, keep it agile. This keeps with the theme of constantly proving your product’s viability. With this approach, you can assess progress in real-time and reverse your choices whenever necessary. 

2. What Are Your Requirements? 

The reason you have numerous applications to choose from for your tech stack is that there’s no technology that’s a perfect match for every single product on the planet. Ultimately, your tech choices will greatly depend on the nature of your requirements. 

First, your product should be focused on delivering the best user experience. Think about the needs of your average user. Will they access the product via desktop computer, laptop or smartphone? What browsers do they use the most? 

Second, the product should be optimized for speed and performance to best optimize your app. What loading and response times do you consider acceptable? 

Third, can your existing data and/or databases be seamlessly migrated to the new product? This is a big one that should be considered to avoid major potential headaches. 

Fourth, what are your security requirements? Depending the nature of the data your product works with, security could very well be the single most important factor. Don’t overly rely on technology for your security requirements though. The quality of your data and system security infrastructure depends just as much on the awareness of users as it does on technical controls. 

3. Go Open-Source 

If you are going to go simple and inexpensive from the start, it’s only logical that you opt for open-source technology whenever it’s available and applicable. But open-source isn’t just great for your pocket. It’s often more secure since there’s a much larger pool of developers working to improve the platform when compared to proprietary software. 

That being said, the term open-source covers a wide pool of applications. Choosing the open-source software that’s best for you is going to be a task in itself. Ideally, you should have a checklist that you use to gauge the strengths and weaknesses of each application. 

For example, the checklist could evaluate the type of licensing the software has, the features, how large its community of active developers is, how it has improved over time, whether the source code is easy to follow, the depth of the documentation, how thoroughly it’s been tested and how security issues are dealt with. 

4. Check For The Availability Of Talent

Do your current tech employees or contractors have a good understanding of the tech stack you want or can you easily hire skilled staff? Your choice of stack must factor the skills of your workers as well as the availability of talent in the market. 

For instance, if you already have four seasoned Angular developers on your payroll, you should consider going with that instead of React or VueJS. There’s always some urgency in the development of a new product since how fast you can get it to the market will determine its success. Having people on board who are already conversant with the technology is an advantage and can help you move fast. 

Nevertheless, a technology may be such a perfect fit for your product that it may be necessary for you to recruit new staff who understand it. If you are considering hiring, find out how easy it will be to get the talent you need, what remuneration the new hires are likely to demand and whether there’s high demand for the developers by big companies. 

Conclusion

As you assess each tech stack against the above factors, keep in mind that product quality largely comes down to following the right process. Technology is key but is only one of the success factors. You have to get the non-tech elements such as product design, requirements and testing right too.


I hope you enjoyed this blog post about how to pick the best technology stack for your business product and company.

Interested in more articles about new business technology?

Read Related Resources:

• Software To Take Your Video Production To New Heights

• Why Your Company Should Upgrade It's Intranet

More Bootstrap Business Blog Below