Before You Build, Check What's Already Coming

Halfway through a build session with one of my coaching clients, I stopped us.

We were recreating a feature inside a platform he already pays for. A custom solution to a problem the platform knew about and was actively working to solve natively. The feature was on their public roadmap. Three months out, maybe four.

We were about to spend a full session — probably more than one — building something that was going to get replaced.

The smarter question first

Before you build a custom workaround inside a platform, check what that platform is releasing next. It takes ten minutes and it can save you days of work.

This is a habit I've developed from years of working inside platforms that move fast. GHL releases significant updates constantly. Most serious platforms have some version of public-facing product updates — a roadmap page, a community changelog, or a regular newsletter.

AI makes checking those sources easier and faster. I can ask it to summarize recent platform announcements, search community forums for mentions of a feature I'm considering building, and surface whether other users have found native solutions I haven't seen yet.

That research step used to take time I rarely had. Now it takes minutes.

The right call when a feature is coming

When the native version is three to four months out, the right move is usually a simplified manual process to cover the gap. Not a sophisticated custom build that gets replaced. A lean, good-enough interim that holds the line until the platform catches up.

That's not a compromise. It's a smarter use of build time.

The sophisticated workaround that gets replaced in four months was never an investment. It was a delay in disguise. The lean interim that bridges to the native version is what actually serves the business.

When AI helps you decide what to build

Beyond checking roadmaps, AI is useful for thinking through the build decision itself. Describe the problem you're trying to solve, the platform you're working in, and the options you see. Ask it what questions you should be asking before you commit to a custom solution.

The answers aren't always what you'd expect. Sometimes the question you didn't think to ask is the one that changes the direction.

This is how AI works best in a solopreneur's business: not just doing tasks, but helping you think through decisions before you spend time on them. Roadmap research, build-vs-wait decisions, identifying when a workaround is smarter than a full solution. Those judgment calls used to require experience or a consultant. Now they require a good question and a few minutes.

The principle underneath all of it

Your build time is limited. Every hour you spend on a workaround that gets replaced is an hour that wasn't available for something else. Awareness of what's coming in the tools you depend on is a business decision, not just a technical one.

Before the next build session, spend ten minutes checking what's already on the way.

What's one thing you've built custom that you later found out the platform was already building for you?