The Case for Boring Technology

Every new project brings the temptation to try that shiny new framework or database. After all, isn't staying current part of our job? But I've learned that "boring" technology choices often lead to better outcomes—for the product, the team, and your own sanity.

The Innovation Budget

Dan McKinley's concept of "innovation tokens" resonated deeply with me. You have a limited budget for new, unproven technology in any project. Spend it wisely.

If your product idea is innovative, keep the tech stack boring. If you must use a cutting-edge database, pair it with a well-understood language and framework. Don't innovate everywhere at once.

What "Boring" Actually Means

Boring doesn't mean outdated or slow. It means:

• Well-documented with answers on Stack Overflow
• Battle-tested at scale by other companies
• Predictable behavior and failure modes
• Easy to hire for
• Stable APIs that don't break between versions

PostgreSQL is boring. React is boring. Express is boring. These are compliments.

The Hidden Costs of New

That new framework has costs you won't see in the getting-started tutorial:

• Bugs in edge cases that nobody has discovered yet
• Documentation gaps you'll have to fill by reading source code
• Breaking changes in minor versions
• The ecosystem hasn't matured (no good libraries, tools, or patterns)
• When something goes wrong at 2 AM, Google won't help you

When to Be Boring

Be boring when: you're building a business, you have deadlines, you work with a team, or you need to maintain this code for years.

Explore new tech when: you're learning, building side projects, or the new tool solves a problem that boring tools genuinely can't.

My Current "Boring" Stack

For most projects, I reach for: PostgreSQL, Redis, Node.js or PHP, React or Vue, and vanilla CSS (or Tailwind). These tools let me focus on the actual problem instead of fighting the tools.

The goal isn't to use the best technology—it's to ship good software. Boring technology helps you do that.