DT014

Greater Reuse of Digital Components vs. Faster Custom Delivery

Business Context. Reusing existing digital components across multiple applications reduces duplicated development effort, but searching for and adapting an existing component can sometimes take longer than building a custom solution from scratch for an urgent need.

Process TRIZ Resolution. Rather than mandating reuse for every project regardless of urgency, organizations should maintain a well-documented, easily searchable component catalog so reuse becomes the fastest option by default, reserving custom builds for genuinely urgent or unique needs.

Applicable TRIZ Principles

Principle 10 (Prior Action) maintains a well-documented, searchable component catalog in advance of project needs.

Principle 3 (Local Quality) reserves custom builds for genuinely urgent or unique needs outside the catalog.

Principle 6 (Universality) designs catalog components to serve a range of common use cases.

Expected Outcome

High component reuse rate

Fast custom delivery when genuinely needed

Reduced duplicated development effort

Efficient use of development capacity

Decision Indicators

Developers cannot easily find existing components to reuse.

Custom builds are chosen by default even when a suitable component exists.

No documented catalog exists of reusable digital components.

Reuse mandates slow down urgent projects unnecessarily.

Duplicated functionality exists across multiple independently built applications.

If several of these indicators are present, the contradiction is likely active and the Process TRIZ resolution above should be evaluated.