Yea, I don't think it's always a waste of time to think about scale at the start. You don't have to do all the work up front, but you can definitely put thought

Yea, I don't think it's always a waste of time to think about scale at the start. You don't have to do all the work up front, but you can definitely put thought into doing the early work in a way that will make scaling easier later. There is no sense in committing to an architecture early that limits your options later. Also, avoiding sloppiness and ensuring simplicity up front usually pays dividends later.