Nicolas Dominici

July 14, 2026

A doctor asked me to build him an app.

What he actually needed: take notes and manage his schedule.

We ended with Notion.

Free. No product to maintain. Notes, calendar, databases, reminders — already there. We only had to configure the workflow and teach ownership: what lives where, who updates what.

That wasn’t an engineering failure.

It was good judgment.

Being able to build it ≠ it being wise

With vibe-coding, anyone can “ship an app” over a weekend.

Pretty demo. Screenshot for the group chat. Feeling of progress.

Then day 30 arrives.

Bugs. Process changes. Onboarding a colleague. Backups. “Who owns this when you’re gone?” A feature that Notion or a simple CRM already solved worse… but without invisible maintenance cost.

Every week I see the same pattern: people reinventing the wheel.

Custom systems nobody ends up using.

Or systems that do get used — and are worse and harder to maintain than a market tool configured well.

The hidden cost isn’t in the demo

An app isn’t Friday’s build.

It’s:

  • product debt without a product team
  • exceptions the builder didn’t anticipate
  • integrations that break
  • orphaned data when the person changes
  • the temptation to add features instead of closing the process

If the problem is notes + calendar, you don’t need a repo.

You need a canonical place, habits, and an owner.

Three questions before you build

  1. Does this already exist and cover ~80%? (Notion, a simple CRM, Google Calendar + form, WhatsApp Business used well)
  2. Is this a software problem… or process / habits / ownership?
  3. Who maintains it in 6 months? (a real name)

If you can’t answer #3, you’re not ready for custom.

When the market tool wins

It wins when:

  • the workflow is standard (notes, appointments, tasks, basic CRM)
  • maintenance risk outweighs total control
  • the team won’t support an internal product
  • you need value this week, not a roadmap

You lose when you force a SaaS onto a weird process without redesigning the process.

Then the mistake isn’t “buying Notion.”

It’s not designing the system.

What this has to do with business systems

My job isn’t maximizing lines of code.

It’s stopping sales and ops from leaking work: intake, follow-up, ownership, next actions.

Sometimes that’s a CRM + rules.

Sometimes WhatsApp with a queue and an SLA.

Sometimes a custom system.

Sometimes Notion.

Judgment is the product.

The app is optional.

I help companies choose and build the right operating layer — sometimes without writing an app. If you’re about to vibe-code or commission software “because you can,” contact me.

You can also email me at nicolasdominici@outlook.com or DM me on LinkedIn.