Portability and risk.
WHAT CREATES DEPENDENCE
Proprietary services with no equivalent elsewhere Data formats specific to one platform Architecture built around one provider's model
WHY IT MATTERS
Pricing changes, services are discontinued, and circumstances change.
WHAT DISCONTINUATION LOOKS LIKE
A service deprecated with a migration deadline.
WHAT TO DO ABOUT IT
Accept dependence deliberately, where the benefit justifies it.
WHAT TO KEEP PORTABLE
Your data model Your business logic Your data itself, exportable
WHAT TO PREFER WHERE THE COST IS SMALL
Standard interfaces: containers, standard databases, standard protocols.
WHAT TO ACCEPT DEPENDENCE ON WILLINGLY
Managed services that save substantial operational work.
WHY
The alternative is operating it yourself, which has its own cost.
WHAT TO ESTABLISH
How you would export your data How long that would take What would need rebuilding
WHAT TO DOCUMENT
Which services you depend on, and what the alternative would be.
WHAT TO REVIEW
Deprecation announcements for services you use.
WHAT TO NEVER DO
Build on a service without knowing its support commitment.
