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Picture this.
A CTO stands before a room of tech executives, explaining how their $100M company runs on 15-year-old databases. The CTO describes their uptime, the reliability, and the fact that things work.
The audience smirks. They think about how this CTO must be behind the times. They think about how legacy systems are nothing but technical debt. They think that this CTO and the company they work for are just a breath away from the system failing and causing all sorts of issues.
Six months later, that same company posts record profits while its competitors debug their latest MCP integrations, microservices architecture, and cutting-edge systems.
Sometimes, boring technology wins. Yes, there is a risk with old and boring, but there’s also a lot of experience and expertise.
It seems like just about every week brings a new platform that is buzzworthy. Boards are always asking questions about staying competitive and how the company can stay ahead in the modern age. The fear of falling behind drives decisions more than logic.
Vendors pitch new, sexy systems that will ‘revolutionize’ your business. But here's what the vendor pitch decks don't show:
Training takes months.
Integration breaks existing workflows.
New systems need constant updates.
Support tickets multiply.
Your best engineers spend weeks learning instead of building.
You aren’t just paying for the new platform. You’re paying for training, support, updates, etc. The systems don’t cost X…they generally cost 3X (or more).
That’s where boring systems can drive value.
Boring technology offers three advantages that flashy alternatives can't match.
Predictable Performance When systems fail, you generally know precisely what broke and how to fix it. There are no mysterious error codes. Your team has solved these problems before.
Deep Talent Pool Hiring developers who know legacy systems is generally easier (and cheaper) than finding the ‘experts’ in the new ‘sexy’ systems. New hires start contributing immediately instead of spending months learning your exotic tech stack.
Vendor Stability Companies building boring technology aren't going anywhere. Support contracts mean something when the vendor has been around for twenty years.
Think about a manufacturing company that chose MySQL over the latest NoSQL database. Their developers focus on business logic instead of figuring out new query languages.
Consider a financial firm running its core systems on time-tested technology. While competitors struggle with service mesh complexity, they process transactions without drama. Customers notice reliability, not architecture.
Or picture a retail company that skipped microservices entirely. Their simple, monolithic system scaled to $500M in revenue without orchestration headaches. They have a straightforward application that works.
Sometimes cutting-edge technology makes sense. When your core competitive advantage depends on technological superiority, invest accordingly, and when customers care about the underlying technology, innovation matters.
But most business problems don't require breakthrough solutions. They need reliable, maintainable systems that let teams focus on customers instead of infrastructure.
Choose innovation where it creates a competitive advantage. Choose stability everywhere else.
Your competitors spend Friday nights debugging their latest deployment. But your team, which is focused on the boring, gets to go home on time because their system works.
While companies chase the sexy systems, they usually end up explaining downtime to angry customers; you deliver consistent service. While they hire expensive specialists for exotic platforms, you build with technologies everyone understands.
Boring technology creates space for actual innovation; the kind that customers notice and pay for.
If you found this post helpful, consider sharing it with another executive grappling with AI, technology, and data. If you want to explore AI and other Technology strategies, grab some time on my calendar, and let's chat.
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