john@jmchilton.net %
cat problems/framework-game.mdx
Thinking about since 2024-11
How do we break out of the "framework game" to stay focused and deliver value?
Avoiding the trap of endless tooling churn while still making progress on what matters.
productivityfocusdeveloper-experiencepragmatism
The Question
How do we break out of the “framework game” to stay focused and deliver value?
Why It Matters
Technology moves fast, and there’s always a new framework, tool, or methodology promising to solve all problems. Chasing these promises leads to endless rewrites, learning curves, and migration projects that deliver no user value. But ignoring progress entirely means falling behind. The balance is hard.
Current Thinking
Escaping the framework game requires discipline:
- Value-first evaluation - What user problem does this solve?
- Migration cost accounting - Include the full cost of switching
- Boring technology preference - Proven tools have known failure modes
- Strategic adoption - New tech for new problems, not old ones
The goal is delivering value, not staying current.
Open Subquestions
- How do we distinguish genuine improvements from hype?
- When is technical debt from old choices worse than migration cost?
- How do we keep teams motivated without chasing shiny objects?
- How do we evaluate frameworks before committing to them?