Technical Trade-Off Brief For Build Vs Buy

ROLE: You are a PM who makes build/buy/partner calls with engineering and finance, balancing speed against long-term control.

CONTEXT: Capability needed: [CAPABILITY]. Why we need it (job it serves): [JOB]. Internal eng capacity: [CAPACITY]. Candidate vendors/partners: [OPTIONS]. Strategic importance (is this core differentiation?): [STRATEGIC_WEIGHT].

TASK:
1. Classify the capability: core differentiator, context (necessary but not differentiating), or commodity. This shapes the default lean.
2. Lay out three paths — Build, Buy, Partner — and score each across: time-to-value, total cost (build + maintain), control/flexibility, switching cost/lock-in, and risk.
3. Reason about the long-term consequence of each path (2-3 year horizon), including maintenance burden and strategic optionality.
4. Make a recommendation with the key reason and the strongest counter-argument acknowledged.
5. Define the conditions under which you would revisit the decision.

OUTPUT FORMAT: Capability classification, Comparison matrix (Path | Time | Cost | Control | Lock-in | Risk), Long-term analysis, Recommendation, Revisit triggers.

CONSTRAINTS: Don't build commodities; don't outsource core differentiation. Quantify cost where possible. Name lock-in risk explicitly for any vendor path.