Friend: Just try making something from scratch the next time you need to bring something. You might enjoy potlucks more if you don’t feel guilty for buying whatever it is.
Dawn: OK, I’ll give that a try and see what I think
(later)
Potluck coodinator: Dawn,why don’t you bring crackers and cheese on Saturday?
OK, so which one should I be making from scratch–the crackers or the cheese or both? Have you ever baked a cracker? I haven’t–at least not on purpose, and, frankly, I’m not about to try it right now, even if I could make these http://daringtothrive.blogspot.com/2008/10/success-is-crispy-healthy-gluten-free.html or any of a number of other recipes. I’m just not the kind of girl who bakes her own crackers, and you can quote me on that. I’m OK with baking a cake with a mix.
I’m a believer in the division of labor. If someone else has made something that would work well for me, I would rather use that unless it is cost-prohibitive either initially or over time.
For example, I’m not going to write map software. We will use the google maps API like many a web site has done. I’m not sure what to do with the calendar, however. I wrote one homegrown calendar component for one read-only purpose so far, but we will need to start doing data entry via calendar too in the future.
We will have work to do with whatever calendar approach we use for our application. Our framework now has a schedule component that we can work with as part of the raw ingredients for baking our own. Google calendar is another option, if this would best be done with a mashup. It has a lot of features, with a good user interface. However, it might be best to minimize our external dependencies and avoid a mashup in this case.
Because this is not critical path before we go to alpha delivery, we have some time before we need to decide whether the data entry via a graphical calendar feature is a mashed up cracker or a piece of cake.
SnupNow: Persistence Matters 