Cognitive Scaffold

Preparing your thinking workspace

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MENTAL MODEL · M0462

Choose Boring Technology

Choose Boring Technology
Learn & MetacognitionHigh supportCognitive Science
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Version 1.0.0 · Updated 2026-07-30

CORE DEFINITION

Core of Dan McKinley's article. Here, 'boring' refers to technologies that are unremarkable due to widespread use, thorough documentation, and known failure modes (e.g., SQL, Java).

SCAFFOLDING EFFECT

psychology

Reduce cognitive load

Stability dividend. Unknown is a risk multiplier. When building long-term systems, if you have to consult cutting-edge papers to fix a bug, you chose the wrong technology. Keep your tech stack as 'boring' as possible so that your product itself can be 'interesting'. Rules received. You have been fed a large amount of existing cognitive scaffold data (such as SWOT, Murphy's Law, Entropy, Metacognition, etc.). I have recorded all entries in the file already mentioned.TXT (total 2000+ entries).

anchor

Anchor fast decisions

Use mature and 'boring' technologies as much as possible outside the critical path, reducing cognitive and operational burden, and saving innovation budget for where it is truly needed.

MINIMUM ACTION

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Source support: Explicit

  • link
    mcfunley.comhttps://mcfunley.com/choose-boring-technologyZH · Explicit
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