---
name: technology-build-vs-buy-vs-partner-analyzer
description: "Scores a specific technology need across build, buy, and partner paths using six weighted criteria — strategic differentiation, time-to-market, total cost of ownership, vendor lock-in risk, internal capability availability, and integration complexity — then delivers a weighted scorecard, a clear recommendation, and the conditions under which the decision should be revisited. Use when deciding whether to build in-house, buy off-the-shelf, or partner for a technology capability, platform, or component."
argument-hint: "[technology-need] [context]"
allowed-tools: ["Read"]
---

# Technology Build vs. Buy vs. Partner Analyzer

## Purpose
Turn a fuzzy "should we build this ourselves?" debate into a structured, weighted decision by scoring the build, buy, and partner paths against six criteria that actually drive technology investment outcomes — and deliver a defensible recommendation with a scorecard leadership can act on and challenge.

## When to Use
Invoke this skill when the user asks to:
- Decide whether to build in-house, buy a vendor solution, or partner for a capability
- Evaluate a make-vs-buy decision for a platform, service, or component
- Justify a build or buy recommendation to a leadership team or board
- Compare vendor solutions against building internally
- Assess vendor lock-in or dependency risk for a technology choice
- Prioritize where limited engineering capacity should go versus outsourced

## Inputs Required
Before starting, collect:
- **Technology need**: The specific capability, platform, or component being decided on (e.g., "customer identity/auth," "recommendation engine," "billing system")
- **Strategic role**: Whether this is core differentiation, a supporting capability, or commodity infrastructure
- **Time-to-market pressure**: The deadline or window and what's riding on it
- **Budget envelope**: Rough capital and ongoing spend available, if known
- **Internal capability**: Current team skills, headcount, and hiring runway relevant to building this
- **Known options**: Any vendors, partners, or open-source tools already on the table
- **Integration landscape**: Key systems this must connect to and any compliance/data constraints

If budget or specific vendors are unknown, proceed with directional estimates and flag them as assumptions to validate.

## Instructions

### Step 1: Frame the Three Paths for This Specific Need
Define concretely what each path looks like for the stated need — not generically:
- **Build**: What the team would design, own, and maintain in-house
- **Buy**: The category of off-the-shelf/SaaS/licensed solutions that fit
- **Partner**: What a co-development, managed service, or vendor-embedded arrangement would cover

State the default assumption for each path (e.g., "Buy = a mature SaaS with API access; Partner = a systems integrator delivering a configured deployment"). This anchors the scoring.

### Step 2: Set Criterion Weights
Assign a weight to each of the six criteria totaling 100%. Default weighting, adjusted based on the strategic role provided:

| Criterion | Default Weight | Adjust up when… |
|---|---|---|
| Strategic differentiation | 25% | The capability is core to competitive advantage |
| Time-to-market | 20% | There's a hard deadline or first-mover pressure |
| Total cost of ownership | 20% | Budget is constrained or spend must scale efficiently |
| Vendor lock-in risk | 15% | Switching cost or dependency is a board-level concern |
| Internal capability availability | 10% | Team is stretched or lacks the relevant skills |
| Integration complexity | 10% | The system sits in a dense, regulated, or legacy landscape |

State the final weights explicitly and justify any deviation from defaults in one sentence each.

### Step 3: Score Each Path on Each Criterion (1–5)
Score all three paths against all six criteria on a 1–5 scale (5 = strongest for that path). Apply these lenses:

- **Strategic differentiation**: Does owning it create moat? Build scores high only when this is genuinely core; commodity needs score build low.
- **Time-to-market**: How fast can this path deliver working capability? Account for hiring/ramp for build, procurement/config for buy, onboarding for partner.
- **Total cost of ownership**: 3-year view — include build's ongoing maintenance and opportunity cost, buy's recurring licensing and scaling fees, partner's markup and exit costs. Cheapest upfront ≠ highest score.
- **Vendor lock-in risk**: Data portability, contractual exit, proprietary formats, single-supplier dependency. Build scores highest here; buy/partner depend on standards and contract terms.
- **Internal capability availability**: Realistic assessment of whether the team can build and sustain this without starving other priorities.
- **Integration complexity**: How cleanly does each path fit the existing landscape and compliance constraints?

For each score, write one line of reasoning grounded in the inputs — never a bare number.

### Step 4: Compute the Weighted Scorecard
Multiply each score by its criterion weight and sum per path. Present as a table:

| Criterion | Weight | Build | Buy | Partner |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| … | …% | score / weighted | score / weighted | score / weighted |
| **Total** | 100% | **X.XX** | **X.XX** | **X.XX** |

Report weighted totals to two decimals.

### Step 5: Deliver the Recommendation
Name the winning path clearly and commit to it. Then include:
- **Why it wins**: The 2–3 criteria that decided it
- **The trade-off accepted**: What the recommended path gives up versus the runner-up
- **Hybrid check**: Whether a phased or blended approach (e.g., buy now, build later; partner to bridge) beats a pure path — recommend it only if the scorecard supports it

### Step 6: Risk Flags and Revisit Triggers
List the top risks of the recommended path and the specific conditions that should trigger reopening the decision — for example: usage crosses a cost threshold, the vendor changes pricing or is acquired, internal team gains the missing skill, or the capability shifts from supporting to core.

## Output Format
- **Structure**: Path framing → weight table → per-criterion scoring with reasoning → weighted scorecard table → recommendation → risk flags and revisit triggers
- **Length**: 800–1,200 words
- **Format**: Structured document with two tables (weights, scorecard) and short reasoned prose elsewhere
- **Sections**: Path Definitions, Criterion Weights, Scoring Rationale, Weighted Scorecard, Recommendation, Risk Flags & Revisit Triggers
- **Tone**: Engineering leadership — decisive, cost-aware, unafraid to commit to a call and name the trade-off

## Quality Checklist
Before delivering output, verify:
- [ ] All three paths are defined concretely for this specific need — not generic descriptions
- [ ] Criterion weights sum to exactly 100% and any deviation from defaults is justified
- [ ] Every one of the 18 scores (3 paths × 6 criteria) has one line of reasoning
- [ ] Weighted totals are computed correctly and reported to two decimals
- [ ] The recommendation commits to one path and names the trade-off accepted
- [ ] At least three revisit triggers are specified with concrete thresholds or events

## Notes
- The most common failure mode is scoring "build" high on differentiation for a capability that's actually commodity — pressure-test whether owning it truly creates a moat.
- Total cost of ownership for building is routinely underestimated; always include ongoing maintenance and the opportunity cost of engineering time diverted from core work.
- A close scorecard (totals within ~0.3) usually signals a hybrid path — recommend "buy to bridge, build if it becomes core" rather than forcing a pure choice.
- When vendor lock-in is weighted heavily, contract terms (data export, exit clauses, pricing caps) matter more than the technology itself — flag these as negotiation priorities.

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## How to use this skill

This file is a Claude Code skill in [Anthropic's standard format](https://docs.anthropic.com/en/docs/claude-code/skills) — markdown with YAML frontmatter at the top.

**Installing in Claude Code:**
- `~/.claude/skills/<folder-name>/SKILL.md` — auto-loads in every session anywhere on your machine (recommended for skills you'll use across multiple projects)
- `<your-project>/.claude/skills/<folder-name>/SKILL.md` — auto-loads only when working in that project (recommended for project-specific skills)

Restart Claude Code or open a new session to register.

**Using in Claude.ai, ChatGPT, Gemini, or other AI tools:**

1. Drag this file into a new chat, or copy and paste its contents
2. Send your task or request as your next message — the AI will apply the skill where it fits

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