The 3-Month Framework: A Practical Approach to Embracing Non-Scalable Solutions in Tech Development
In the world of tech startups, there’s a famous piece of advice from Paul Graham: “Do things that don’t scale.” While this mantra is often cited, the conversation around implementing it in our coding practices is surprisingly rare. Having spent the last eight months developing my AI podcast platform, I’ve devised a straightforward strategy to tackle this challenge: every unscalable approach gets a limited lifespan of three months. After this period, I assess whether it demonstrates worth or is phased out.
As software engineers, we tend to gravitate towards creating “scalable” solutions right from the start. Our training emphasizes advanced architectures like microservices and distributed systems designed for optimal performance under heavy loads. However, this mindset often belongs to large corporations rather than nimble startups where scalable code can become costly procrastination. My 3-month guideline compels me to focus on writing straightforward, albeit imperfect code that can be swiftly deployed. This practice reveals what users genuinely require.
My Pragmatic Infrastructure Approaches and Their Strategic Value
1. Consolidated Systems on a Single VM
I’ve opted to run my entire platform—database, web server, background jobs, Redis—on a single $40/month virtual machine without redundancy. While this may seem reckless, it has enabled me to gain insights about my resource demands more effectively than any capacity planning document could provide. I’ve learned that my AI-centric platform’s peak usage only requires 4GB of RAM, which told me that building an intricate Kubernetes setup would have been a waste of resources.
Each time the system crashes (which has happened twice), I obtain valuable insights into what went wrong—information I wouldn’t have discovered otherwise.
2. Straightforward Hardcoded Configurations
My codebase features hardcoded values for pricing tiers and user limits, like:
python
PRICE_TIER_1 = 9.99
PRICE_TIER_2 = 19.99
MAX_USERS = 100
AI_MODEL = "gpt-4"
There are no complex configuration files or environment variables involved; changing a value necessitates a quick redeployment. This method allows me to swiftly search my entire codebase for any configuration and ensures my changes are logged in version control. It has saved me time and energy that would have been spent developing a configuration service, which I wouldn’t have needed to use more than three times in three months.
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One Comment
Thank you for sharing this insightful approach! Embracing the “do things that don’t scale” mantra with a clear 3-month rule offers a pragmatic way for startups to iterate rapidly and learn what truly works for their users. Your emphasis on quick deployment, coupled with the willingness to fail fast and learn from system crashes or hardcoded configurations, aligns well with the lean startup principles. I particularly appreciate the focus on gaining real-world insights over theoretical scalability — this often reveals unexpected user behaviors and system bottlenecks that pure planning might overlook.
Have you considered combining this approach with scheduled reviews after each cycle where you document lessons learned and decide whether to scale or phase out specific solutions? This could create a continuous feedback loop that balances speed with strategic planning, ensuring that non-scalable solutions inform future scalable architectures as your platform grows. Great work exemplifying how agility and practicality can drive meaningful innovation in early-stage tech development!