Trade-offs

Explicit trade-offs compare scope, quality, speed, maintainability, operational risk, and user impact so decisions are deliberate. Interview answers should name what you gain, what you sacrifice, and whether the choice is reversible.

| Dimension | Question to answer aloud | |-----------|-------------------------| | Scope | What ships now vs later? | | Quality | Which tests or polish defer? | | Speed | What shortcut creates debt? | | Risk | Blast radius if wrong? | | Reversibility | Flag, migration, or one-way door? |

					Option A: sync export — faster v1, timeout risk at 100k rows
Option B: async job — +2d, better UX and ops hooks
Recommend B because enterprise tenants exceed row limit weekly
				

On interviews: present two options with consequences, pick one tied to stated constraints, and note what evidence would flip the decision.

Common pitfalls: false dichotomies; "best practice" without context; hiding operational cost; irreversible choices without stakeholder alignment.

The trade-off is analysis time versus accidental decisions that become expensive to unwind.

Checklist:

• Compare at least two real options.
• Tie recommendation to constraints and user impact.
• State reversibility and cleanup cost.
• Document residual risk accepted.