If you don't expect your project will have a long shelf life, it might be easier to accept parts in the stack that aren't going to scale. But if your project ha

If you don't expect your project will have a long shelf life, it might be easier to accept parts in the stack that aren't going to scale. But if your project has prospects for the future, putting in the time to create a solid foundation will pay dividends when the moment comes to scale up. I have services that were supposed to last 3 months that are still running 6 years later, with a firedrill every 6-18 months when requirements change without warning. I've also spent months working on things that were meant to last years, that never made it to production because the product owner changed their mind. My general rule is to assume everything will last forever, and organize my code with maintainability and changes in mind. But also to deploy the simplest way possible and scale only when needed.