Paved roads vs platforms: what we learned getting it wrong

Draft writing — full body publishes via the editorial workflow.

We keep rediscovering that the cheapest, least-glamorous shape of “platform” is a paved road: a small set of opinions you can opt into, with a clear way to opt out. Broad coherent platforms try to be the only answer; paved roads admit other answers exist. This essay walks through four projects where we backed the wrong horse and what the rollback cost each time.