The Three Levels of Productization: When to Build What

The Three Levels of Productization: When to Build What

In the world of software development and automation, knowing when to build what can be the difference between wasted effort and transformative impact. Not every idea needs to become a full-blown enterprise product, and not every workflow automation deserves to be tucked away as a personal script.

This article explores the three distinct levels of productization, helping you determine the right approach for your needs - whether you're building for yourself, your team, or the broader market.

Level 1: Building Just for You

The first level of productization focuses on solving problems for exactly one user: yourself. At this level, the development requirements are minimal because you understand your own needs intimately, and you're both the developer and the end user.

Level 1a: One-Off Solutions

One-off solutions are built to solve a specific problem once, with no expectation of reuse.

When to use this approach:

  • For rapid data analysis or visualization needed only once
  • To automate a task that won't need to be repeated
  • When exploring a concept before committing to a more robust solution

Example: Imagine you need to analyze customer feedback from a one-time survey. You might create a quick script to parse the data and generate visualizations. The script doesn't need documentation, error handling, or a polished interface because it's serving an immediate, one-time purpose.

According to development best practices, these solutions should be simple, focused, and disposable. Don't invest time in making them maintainable or scalable if they're truly one-off.

Level 1b: Personal Repeatable Tools

Personal repeatable tools are automations or scripts you'll use repeatedly, but still only for yourself.

When to use this approach:

  • For recurring personal workflows
  • When you need consistent results for a task you perform regularly
  • When the solution only needs to satisfy your specific requirements

Example: Using tools like Zapier or n8n to automate your weekly reporting process. While Zapier is known for its user-friendly interface and extensive pre-built integrations, n8n offers more flexibility and customization for technically inclined users who need tailored solutions [1].

For instance, you might create a workflow that:

  1. Pulls data from Google Analytics
  2. Formats it according to your preferences
  3. Creates a report in Google Sheets
  4. Sends you a notification when it's ready

This personal automation saves you time each week, but doesn't need the robustness of a tool meant for others to use.

According to n8n: "n8n is a flexible workflow automation platform for technical teams who want to build complex workflows faster — without facing scalability or customization limitations" [1]. This makes it ideal for personal repeatable tools that might have some complexity but don't need to scale beyond your usage.

Level 2: Building for People You Can Help In Person

The second level expands your solution to serve a small group of people you can directly support—typically your immediate team or department.

When to use this approach:

  • When multiple team members face the same challenge
  • When you can personally provide support and guidance
  • When needs are relatively consistent across users
  • When scale remains manageable

Example: Consider a marketing team that regularly needs to analyze campaign performance across multiple channels. You might build a dashboard tool that pulls data from various sources, standardizes it, and presents key metrics in an easy-to-understand format.

At this level, your solution requires:

  • Basic documentation (getting-started guide)
  • Simple instructions for common use cases
  • Minimal error handling for expected scenarios
  • Some consideration for different user needs

According to enterprise software development principles, this level strikes a balance between customization and standardization. The tool should be "designed to serve as team-wide solutions" [2] that address specific operational needs without the complexity of full enterprise software.

Key differences from Level 1:

  • Must account for different user preferences
  • Needs some basic onboarding materials
  • Requires consistent behavior across different users' environments
  • Should have some basic error detection and reporting
  • Needs to be somewhat maintainable by you

However, since you're still closely connected to all users, you don't need:

  • Comprehensive documentation
  • Extensive scalability
  • Complex user management
  • Sophisticated monitoring or logging

In essence, Level 2 tools help boost team productivity without the overhead of full productization. They're administered by you and used by people you can directly assist if issues arise.

Level 3: Building for People You Don't Know

The third level represents full productization – building software for users you may never meet personally, who will rely on your solution to operate independently.

When to use this approach:

  • When addressing a broad market need
  • When scaling beyond your direct sphere of influence
  • When users need to self-serve without your intervention
  • When reliability and performance are critical

Example: Enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems, customer relationship management (CRM) applications, or any SaaS product meant for general use falls into this category.

At this level, your solution requires:

  • Comprehensive documentation
  • Complete error handling and recovery mechanisms
  • Robust security protocols
  • Scalable architecture
  • Monitoring and alerting systems
  • Regular maintenance and updates
  • User management and access controls
  • Technical support systems

According to enterprise software development practices, this level involves "a well-defined process to ensure the solution aligns with specific company requirements, objectives, and challenges" [3]. The development follows structured stages, including thorough requirements gathering, planning, iterative development, and rigorous testing.

Enterprise software typically includes:

  • Backend systems with proper databases
  • Robust authentication and authorization
  • API documentation
  • Comprehensive observability tools
  • Deployment pipelines
  • Disaster recovery procedures
  • Service level agreements (SLAs)

As noted by industry experts, "The scale, level of sophistication, architectural complexity, need for globalization, complex security and IAM, and cloud service requirements are significantly more demanding for software development enterprise vs. regular solutions" [4].

Making the Right Choice

How do you decide which level is right for your project? Consider these factors:

Time Investment vs. Value

  • Level 1: Hours to days of development time
  • Level 2: Days to weeks of development time
  • Level 3: Weeks to months (or years) of development time

Maintenance Burden

  • Level 1: Minimal to none
  • Level 2: Periodic updates, some support for team members
  • Level 3: Ongoing maintenance, regular updates, dedicated support resources

Key Questions to Ask

  1. Who will use this solution?

    • Just me → Level 1
    • My team or close colleagues → Level 2
    • External users or broad internal audience → Level 3

  2. How long will the solution be needed?

    • One-time use → Level 1a
    • Ongoing personal use → Level 1b
    • Team use for foreseeable future → Level 2
    • Long-term product → Level 3

  3. What happens if the solution fails?

    • Minor personal inconvenience → Level 1
    • Team disruption but containable → Level 2
    • Major business impact → Level 3

  4. Who will maintain the solution?

    • Just me, when needed → Level 1 or 2
    • Dedicated resources → Level 3

Moving Between Levels

Solutions often evolve between these levels as needs change:

  • A Level 1b personal tool might prove so useful that teammates request access, pushing it to Level 2
  • A successful Level 2 team tool might gain organization-wide interest, requiring evolution to Level 3

When transitioning between levels, be prepared to invest in:

  • 1 → 2: Documentation, standardization, basic error handling
  • 2 → 3: Architecture review, security hardening, scalability improvements, comprehensive testing, full documentation, support processes

Conclusion

Choosing the right level of productization prevents both overengineering (spending too much time building robust systems for simple needs) and underengineering (creating fragile tools that fail when needed most).

By accurately assessing your needs, audience, and constraints, you can deliver the right solution at the right level of investment:

  • Level 1: Quick, personal solutions that solve immediate problems
  • Level 2: Team-focused tools that boost collective productivity
  • Level 3: Full products that stand alone and serve users at scale

Remember that the goal isn't always to reach Level 3. Many valuable solutions should remain at Levels 1 or 2, where they provide the most value with the least overhead.

The best approach is to start small, prove value, and expand thoughtfully as real needs emerge, rather than overbuilding in anticipation of potential future requirements.

References

[1] N8n.io. "n8n vs Zapier – Which is right for you?" n8n vs Zapier

[2] AEMCORP. "5 Lessons for Finding the Right Test Automation Software." AEMCORP Blog

[3] Integrio. "The Enterprise Software Development Process." Integrio Blog

[4] Dev.pro. "Difference Between Enterprise Software Development and Regular Software Development." Dev.pro Insights