Embracing the 3-Month Rule: A Pragmatic Approach to Unscalable Innovations
In the world of startup development, the maxim from Paul Graham—”Do things that don’t scale”—is well-recognized, yet its practical execution remains a topic often left undiscussed among engineers, particularly in the realm of coding. After dedicating eight months to the creation of my AI podcast platform, I’ve established a straightforward framework: every temporary hack that isn’t built for scalability has a lifespan of three months. In this period, it either demonstrates its value and is fully developed, or it is phased out.
When we become engineers, the common training places emphasis on crafting solutions that can handle large-scale demands from the outset—think design patterns, microservices, and distributed systems. However, this methodology is primarily the domain of larger companies. In the vibrant world of startups, focusing on scalable solutions can easily become an expensive form of procrastination, as we find ourselves developing for users who do not yet exist and tackling issues that may never arise. This three-month rule helps me prioritize creating straightforward, even “imperfect” code that promptly brings my ideas to life while simultaneously providing crucial insights into actual user needs.
Ingenious Yet Simplistic Infrastructure Hacks
1. Consolidating Resources on One Virtual Machine
Currently, my entire system—comprising the database, web server, background processes, and Redis—operates on a single $40/month virtual machine. While this approach lacks redundancy and involves conducting manual backups, it’s immensely educational. In just two months, I’ve gained more insight into my actual resource requirements than any predictive document could have provided. My platform, which I expected to be resource-heavy, experiences peak usage of only 4GB of RAM. The complex Kubernetes architecture I contemplated would have resulted in managing unused containers instead of solving real problems.
2. Utilizing Hardcoded Configuration
I maintain a straightforward approach to configuration, utilizing hardcoded values for things like pricing tiers and user limits. This technique allows me to quickly index my codebase and track changes through version control. Over three months, I’ve only altered these values three times—making a week of work into a mere 15 minutes of redeployment.
3. Opting for SQLite in Production
Running SQLite for a multi-user application may raise eyebrows, but my database size is a manageable 47MB, efficiently serving 50 concurrent users without issue. This experience revealed to me
