Open Sightline
When I visit my mom in the suburbs of Atlanta, one of our favorite pastimes is watching HGTV. The premise of one of our favorite shows, Love It or List It, is when a home no longer suits a family's needs and they’re left with a big dilemma: renovate it or sell it and find a move-in ready home?
But no such tv show exists for the common problem that product leaders face on whether they should build a new custom software solution or buy one that already exists.
In either scenario; evaluating capabilities, constraints, and growth goals empower people to make the right final decision.
In each hour-long episode, realtor David and designer Hilary, go head-to-head for the homeowners' final choice to stay or go. David’s expert knowledge of the real estate market helps target affordable listings to prospective buyers, but Hilary is committed to showing homeowners that, within their budget, she can turn their unwanted house into a renovated home they can love.
Doing it yourself has its clear benefits, like owning the development process. It gives you complete control over the roadmap and end state. Unlike her counterpart, Hilary can offer a more customized, personalized offering that intimately plays on customer needs and sentiment.
A young family’s first floor featured under-utilized areas and separated rooms, making already limited square footage seem smaller. The plus?
Their close proximity to the beach.
Their renovation provided them with an open floor plan for better sightline and traffic flow along with a larger kitchen and added home office. The color palette and nautical aesthetic hark back to the family’s west coast origins.
On the other hand, deciding to look externally has its advantages. Sometimes there are resource constraints that come with the internal approach. In software, this may mean limited time, funds, or staff (I’ve been there). You want something ‘plug and play’ for better time-to-value or that’s more cost-effective. With renovations, these constraints exist along with more nuanced ones.
For instance, one season 9 couple faced zoning issues with their deck expansion in their small backyard where their city’s laws had landscaping restrictions to allow for proper drainage. They decided not to expand their deck if they could only do so minimally, contributing to them finding a new home with more backyard space for their growing family.
And that was the right decision for them.
So if you find yourself in a similar ‘buy it or build it' situation, think about where you want to be along with your capabilities and constraints.
You might get that open sightline after all.
