Designed to Scale – 2
You cannot build a skyscraper by putting huts on top of each other.
Once a product is built for a specific scale, it is very difficult to scale it beyond a certain point.
This becomes a very important point during the building of a new software product. The concept of scale is very well understood in established branches of engineering and the scale is clearly visible to those who are building it. However, software products are built by entrepreneurs who may not be engineers.
In order to build the software product in steps, the entrepreneur starts with a POC development which is built for a limited number of users, and it works well. Once the usefulness is established the next steps in building the product are very crucial.
Let me try to explain with an example of building a tower, which is easy to understand.
The most important thing that is built first is the foundation. And a solid, strong large enough foundation is required which can support the load of a fully built tower. Most of the work is done below the surface, which is not visible as well as not sellable. The foundation can’t be built is smaller steps. It has to be built all at once.
Can you think of any similar examples?
#engineering #architecture #scalability
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