If you can't customize the software, then you'll implement external hacks and workarounds that are much uglier and costlier to maintain than customizations laye

If you can't customize the software, then you'll implement external hacks and workarounds that are much uglier and costlier to maintain than customizations layered on top of a more flexible system would be, or else you just won't use the software. This isn't my first rodeo either, and in my experience, most firms have at least a few idiosyncratic rules and process that they aren't willing to change just to conform to the limitations of software. If you build opinionated software, your customer base will be limited to businesses that either already operate according to the assumptions you've baked in to your design, or else have the resources to implement their own solutions -- at higher complexity than customization -- to compensate for what's missing from yours.