name: tech-research
description: Use this skill when evaluating technologies, comparing frameworks, making build vs buy decisions, researching best practices, or synthesizing information for a technical decision. Trigger on keywords: should I use, which framework, technology comparison, evaluate, build vs buy, what's the best tool for, research this technology, is X worth learning.
Technology Research
Research Process
1. DEFINE — What specific decision are we making?
2. CONSTRAIN — What are the non-negotiables? (team skills, budget, timeline)
3. GATHER — Collect data from quality sources
4. COMPARE — Evaluate options against the same criteria
5. DECIDE — Choose with explicit reasoning
6. DOCUMENT — Record the decision for future reference
Technology Evaluation Criteria
| Criterion | What to Look For |
|---|
| Problem Fit | Does it actually solve YOUR problem? |
| Maturity | Production-proven? Version 1.x or 0.x? |
| Community | Active GitHub, Stack Overflow, Discord |
| Maintenance | Last commit? Open issues? Response time? |
| Performance | Benchmarks relevant to your scale |
| Learning Curve | Team familiarity, documentation quality |
| Ecosystem | Plugins, integrations, tooling |
| Exit Cost | How hard to migrate away? |
| License | MIT/Apache (permissive) vs GPL vs commercial |
Source Quality Hierarchy
- Official documentation — authoritative, check version
- Production case studies — most reliable, hardest to find
- Benchmark comparisons — verify the benchmark matches your use case
- Respected technical blogs — check date and author credentials
- Reddit / Hacker News — good for real-world sentiment and gotchas
- YouTube tutorials — useful for learning, not for decisions
Always check the date. A 2-year-old comparison may be obsolete.
Decision Document Template
## Technology Decision: [topic]
**Date:** | **Decided by:**
### Context
[What problem are we solving? What are our constraints?]
### Options Evaluated
| Criterion | Option A | Option B | Option C |
|-----------|---------|---------|---------|
| Problem Fit | | | |
| Maturity | | | |
| Team Familiarity | | | |
| Performance | | | |
| Long-term Risk | | | |
### Decision
**Chosen:** [option]
**Reasoning:** [why this fits our specific context]
**Trade-offs accepted:** [what we give up]
**Revisit if:** [conditions that would change this decision]
Build vs Buy Framework
Build when:
- This IS your core competitive differentiator
- No existing solution fits well enough (>40% custom needed)
- You have the expertise and time to maintain it
Buy / Use OSS when:
- It's infrastructure (auth, payments, email, queues)
- Time-to-market is critical
- Your users don't care who built the underlying tool
- Maintenance would distract from core product
The hidden cost of building: every line you write, you now own forever.
Staying Current
Trusted sources for staying up to date:
- GitHub Trending (weekly)
- State of JS / State of CSS surveys (annual)
- Stack Overflow Developer Survey (annual)
- Official release blogs of tools you use
- Hacker News "Who's Hiring" (for industry signals)
- Thoughtworks Technology Radar (strategic view)
