Under-scaling and over-scaling are both suboptimal for all the obvious reasons. Middle-scaling is also suboptimal - you’re paying too much upfront and you don’

Under-scaling and over-scaling are both suboptimal for all the obvious reasons. Middle-scaling is also suboptimal - you’re paying too much upfront and you don’t get enough later on anyway. Stage-appropriate scaling is the smart way. Scale as you can see the need. This requires willpower - you will be pressured to kick things down the road just one more time, every single time. The path of the wise is generational design. Build every component such that it can be easily destroyed and replaced. Anything that mustn’t be destroyed should be scrutinized and planned for in advance. Store your data in most mundane formats so it’s easier read. Keep interactions simple and need-to-know. These are platitudes, you will need to fill the planned obsolesce roadmap for yourself. This unites your hands make the quickest crappiest implementation at the moment secure in knowledge you can fix it or scale it as needed later.