Choose Boring Technology

Choose Boring Technology (2015)

In this classic essay, Dan McKinley argues that companies should spend their limited 'innovation tokens' wisely, favoring boring, well-understood technology over shiny new tools. Drawing on his experience at Etsy, he explains that boring tech has known failure modes, reducing unknown unknowns. He advocates for global optimization over local 'best tool for the job' choices, and offers a process for evaluating new technology that includes considering existing solutions and planning migrations. The goal is to keep operations manageable and allow engineers to focus on bigger problems.