research-synthesis

Research & Synthesis

Research Process

1. DEFINE    — What specific question am I trying to answer?
2. GATHER    — Collect sources (docs, benchmarks, community, real usage)
3. EVALUATE  — Assess source quality and recency
4. SYNTHESIZE — Extract patterns and insights across sources
5. DECIDE    — Apply findings to your specific context
6. DOCUMENT  — Record the decision and reasoning for future reference

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Technology Evaluation Framework

For every technology comparison:

Dimension	What to Evaluate
Fit	Does it solve your actual problem?
Maturity	Production-proven or experimental?
Community	Active maintenance, GitHub stars, Stack Overflow presence
Performance	Benchmarks relevant to your use case
Learning Curve	Team familiarity, documentation quality
Ecosystem	Integrations, libraries, tooling
Cost	License, infrastructure, ops overhead
Exit Cost	How hard to migrate away if needed?

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Comparison Document Template

## Decision: [technology choice]

### Context
[What problem are we solving? What are our constraints?]

### Options Considered
| | Option A | Option B | Option C |
|--|---------|---------|---------|
| Fit | | | |
| Maturity | | | |
| Performance | | | |
| Team familiarity | | | |
| Long-term risk | | | |

### Decision
[What we chose and why]

### Trade-offs Accepted
[What we give up with this choice]

### Revisit If
[Conditions that would prompt reconsideration]

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Source Quality Hierarchy

1. Official docs — authoritative, but may be biased toward positives
2. Benchmarks — verify the benchmark matches your use case
3. Production case studies — most reliable, but rare
4. Community discussions — useful for gotchas and real-world issues
5. Blog posts — variable quality, check date and author credentials

Always check the date. Technology moves fast — 2-year-old articles may be outdated.

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Using AI for Research