How to Choose the Right Stack for Your Clients

Show Notes

What is a tech stack?
What is a "client stack?"
How to choose the right stack for your clients based on...
- The project's requirements
- Personal considerations (ie your team's expereince level)
- Technical considerations (ie can this stack run a website like this efficiently?)

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A collection (or a “stack”) of technologies that are used together to build out an application (desktop, web app, website, etc.)
Popular stacks include:
- MEAN: MongoDB, Express.js, AngularJS, Node.js
- MERN: MongoDB, Express.js, React.js, and Node.js
- LAMP: Linux OS, Apache web server, MySQL, PHP‍
New Stacks (serverless)
- Vercel/Netlify, Next.js, Planetscale (MySQL) [serverless]

Our definition is a little bit different because we’re talking in the context of clients and selling them on your services…
- Our Definition: A collection of technologies that are used together to build out a solution for a client
The solution for a client may be multi-faceted…for example:
- WordPress for the marketing site
- Custom code using LAMP stack for their web app
- Constant Contact for their email marketing
Even though there are three stacks involved here, together they form sort of a “client stack”

Your tech stack is a foundational piece of your project that dictates:
- Your application’s overall capabilities
- The typical issues you will face
- How expensive the project may be to build, maintain, and scale

Gather all your client’s requirements - answer this: what do they need this project to do?
If they’re non-technical, get them to walk you through what they want in non-techncial terms, even if they have a list of technical requirements given to them from their tech team
- They may just be reading off items in a list, not knowing what they’re for‍
Limitations Gathering
- Budget: How much money do they have to work with?
- Time: How much time do they have to work with?
- Power: Do they have the power to make decisions and changes on the fly, or do they need to talk to a manager? Have a big board meeting? Tied up in red tape
- Experience: How experienced are they with running/administering the project you’re trying to build them? Are they going to call you every time someone has a problems with a password? How much handholding do you need to do?

People in the tech industry will no doubt generate opinions over time, some are for good reason, others are just personal bias - do not let personal bias cost you or your customer money, don’t custom code something that they would prefer you use WordPress for (if WordPress is appropriate an you just don’t want to use it because it’s not “real coding”)
Ask yourself these questions:
- What is your current workload?
- What is my team most experienced at?
- How long does it take to learn a new technology that we haven’t touched yet?
- Does the client budget work WITH a buffer zone for scope creep and unforeseen problems?
- How are we going to manage this? Who’s in charge (project manager)? What are our policies on “last minute adds” (scope creep)? How strict are the deadlines?
- Are you needed after the project has shipped? If so, can you handle the additional maintenance and/or support duty?