The Software Industry is broken - Designed for Inefficiency

In many ways, today's software development practices mirror house construction from a century ago. Back then, every builder had a unique way of cutting lumber, creating joinery, and sourcing materials. The result? Inconsistent quality, higher costs, and slower builds.

The same inefficiencies that once plagued homebuilding still hinder modern software. When every feature is coded from scratch, it's like trying to build a house with lumber hand-cut to dozens of unique measurements—unnecessarily complicated, prone to mistakes, and costly in the long run.

Impacts

1. Slow

Starting every new app from a blank slate adds unnecessary complexity and slows time-to-market. Developers spend weeks—sometimes months—crafting, testing, and debugging boilerplate code. Businesses seeking to pivot or quickly launch new products face serious delays because foundational pieces must be reworked over and over.

Endless Blueprints

Imagine a home construction company that refuses to reuse any blueprint—even for standard walls or rooms. Everything has to be designed from scratch every single time. It might sound innovative, but it grinds progress to a halt. In software, this is exactly what happens when every login module or account management system is coded anew.

2. Error-Prone

Reinventing core features means also reintroducing the same bugs. Without trusted, battle-tested modules, developers risk minor oversights that can become major vulnerabilities, crashes, or hidden data inconsistencies.

Non-Standard Nails and Hammers

In old-school construction, each supplier's nails varied just enough to cause mismatched fits and structural issues over time. In software, the slightest logic error in a custom-coded login flow might expose user data or lock out customers. Multiply those small errors across hundreds of features, and the risk balloons.

3. Expensive

Custom development of everything drives up labor costs. Developers spend precious hours rebuilding what should be routine. On top of that, each custom solution must be maintained over time. Update a core feature in one app, and you'll have to replicate those changes in every other app that shares the same functionality—but built differently.

Paint Mixed from Scratch for Every Wall

No paint store, no ready-made colors—just you, mixing pigments by hand for every wall. It's incredibly slow and leaves room for color-matching errors that force repainting from scratch. In software, "mixing your own paint" means building forms, auth flows, or data handling from zero each time, leading to higher costs and greater complexity.

Why Standardization Matters

Just as the construction industry moved to standardized materials and building codes, software development needs the same shift toward high-quality, reusable components.

1. Speeds Up Development
   Plug in pre-built modules for authentication, data handling, or reporting. Spend more time on real business logic—what actually differentiates your product.
2. Reduces Bugs and Security Risks
   When a widely-used component is thoroughly tested and fixed, those improvements benefit every team using it. No more duplicating the same security flaws or logic errors in one-off code.
3. Cuts Costs
   Eliminating redundant work means saving on labor, releasing faster, and focusing on innovation.

Conclusion

The software industry is stuck in a pre-standardization era, much like carpenters painstakingly cutting lumber by hand a hundred years ago. The result? Slower time-to-market, more bugs, and soaring costs—problems no business wants.

Embracing standardization through reusable, well-tested modules is the modern solution. By taking a page from today's construction industry, we can build software that's faster, safer, and ultimately far less expensive in the long run.

Key Takeaway:

Leverage a platform that allows you to standardize and reuse. Stop rebuilding what everyone else already has, and channel that time and money into truly unique features that set your product apart.