This is what I believe.
I believe the most important asset an organisation can have is capability: the ability to identify problems, design solutions, and make them real.
I believe most organisations have systematically destroyed this capability by outsourcing everything to vendors and consultants who profit from their dependence.
I believe AI has changed the economics of building so dramatically that the excuses for dependency no longer hold.
I believe the next decade will divide organisations into two groups: those who can solve their own problems, and those who are at the mercy of people who can.
I believe you should be in the first group.
This is the manifesto for capability over dependency.
The Dependency Trap
Here's how organisations end up helpless:
It starts with a reasonable decision. "We're not a technology company. Let's buy software instead of building it." Makes sense. Focus on your core business, let specialists handle the technology.
So you sign a contract. The vendor implements their system. Your team learns to use it. The software becomes part of how you operate.
Then you need a change. A new feature. An integration. A workflow that doesn't quite fit the vendor's assumptions.
You submit a request. The vendor says they'll consider it. Months pass. Maybe it shows up on a roadmap. Maybe it doesn't. You're not their only customer. You're not even their most important customer.
So you work around it. You build manual processes to compensate for software limitations. You hire people to do what automation should handle. You accept friction as the cost of doing business.
Meanwhile, you renew the contract. What choice do you have? Switching would be painful. Your data is in their system. Your team knows their interface. You're locked in.
Years pass. More contracts. More vendors. More dependency.
One day you look around and realise: you can't do anything without someone else's permission. You can't change your processes without vendor approval. You can't innovate without finding a product that supports it. You can't move fast because you're waiting on a dozen external parties.
You've outsourced your capability. And now you have none left.
What Capability Actually Means
Capability isn't about having all the skills in-house. It isn't about building everything yourself. It's about having the ability to solve problems when you need to.
An organisation with capability can:
See problems clearly.
They understand their own operations well enough to identify what's working and what isn't. They don't need consultants to tell them where they're inefficient.
Design solutions.
When they identify a problem, they can envision how to solve it. They think in systems. They understand cause and effect in their own context.
Evaluate options.
They can assess whether to build, buy, or partner, and they make that choice based on strategic judgment, not learned helplessness. "We can't build" isn't in their vocabulary.
Execute when needed.
When building is the right choice, they can do it. Maybe not everything, but enough. They have people who can turn ideas into reality.
Learn and iterate.
They ship things, see what works, and improve. They're not paralysed by the need to get it right the first time. They have the capability to evolve.
Own their destiny.
Their critical systems belong to them. Their differentiation can't be copied by competitors who buy the same software. Their future isn't determined by vendor roadmaps.
This doesn't mean building everything. It means being able to build when it matters. It means having the judgment to know when it matters. It means never being helpless.
Why Dependency Is Dangerous
Dependency feels safe. It isn't.
Dependency is expensive.
Every year, you pay more for software that does the same thing. Vendors raise prices because they can. Switching costs keep you trapped. The subscription model means you never own anything; you just rent, forever.
Dependency is slow.
Your pace of change is limited by your slowest vendor. You can't move faster than their roadmap allows. Innovation requires permission from people who don't share your urgency.
Dependency erodes differentiation.
If your competitors can buy the same software, it's not a competitive advantage. It's table stakes. The more you rely on generic tools, the more generic you become.
Dependency kills learning.
When you outsource problem-solving, you don't develop the skills to solve problems. Your people become administrators of other people's software, not creators of solutions. Institutional capability atrophies.
Dependency creates fragility.
What happens when a critical vendor goes out of business? Raises prices beyond your budget? Gets acquired and changes direction? Sunsets the product you depend on? You have no fallback. You're exposed.
Dependency compounds.
The less capability you have, the more you depend on others. The more you depend on others, the less capability you develop. It's a spiral that ends in complete helplessness.
The organisations that recognise this are building capability. The ones that don't are becoming more dependent every year. The gap between them is widening.
The Capability Shift
Something has changed. The economics of building are not what they were.
AI has collapsed the skill barrier.
Tasks that required specialised developers can now be accomplished by domain experts with AI assistance. The gap between "idea" and "implementation" has narrowed dramatically.
Tools have democratised infrastructure.
Deploying software used to require servers, operations teams, and significant capital. Now it requires a credit card and an afternoon. Infrastructure is a commodity.
Integration has become easier.
APIs are everywhere. Systems that couldn't talk to each other now can. The technical obstacles to building connected solutions have diminished.
Learning resources are abundant.
If you need to understand something, the knowledge is available. Documentation, tutorials, AI assistants that can explain concepts and debug code. The learning curve has flattened.
This means the excuses don't hold anymore.
"We can't build"
is no longer true. You can. The barriers have fallen.
"It's too expensive"
is backwards. Building creates assets; renting software is the expensive path.
"We don't have the skills"
is solvable. Skills can be developed, and AI reduces how much skill you need.
"It's too risky"
is exactly wrong. Dependency is the risk. Capability is the mitigation.
The organisations that update their mental models will build capability. The ones clinging to outdated assumptions will keep outsourcing until there's nothing left.
What I'm Building (and Why)
Teachnology exists to help organisations develop capability.
Teachnology Advisory
Works with leaders who are tired of dependency, who know something is broken and want to build the ability to solve their own problems. We don't create more dependency on us. We build capability that remains after we're gone.
Teachnology Ventures
Our product studio. Guest Loop, Ink Wise, Forkcast: products we've built ourselves, proving that small teams can create meaningful solutions. We don't just talk about building. We do it.
The tagline is "AI that empowers humans." But the deeper mission is capability over dependency. We want organisations to be able to solve their own problems. We want them to stop being helpless.
This isn't the most lucrative model. Consultants who create dependency get repeat business forever. We're trying to make ourselves unnecessary. But it's the right model, the one that actually helps.
The Principles
Here's what capability over dependency looks like in practice:
Own what differentiates you.
Generic operations can use generic software. But the things that make you unique (your distinctive processes, your competitive advantages, your core value creation) those should be yours. Don't outsource your differentiation.
Build skills, not just systems.
When you build something, invest in your people's ability to maintain and extend it. Don't just hire contractors who leave when the project ends. Develop internal capability that compounds over time.
Start small and iterate.
You don't need to build everything at once. Pick one problem. Solve it. Learn from the experience. Then pick another. Capability develops through practice, not through planning.
Make build/buy decisions strategically.
Not everything should be built internally. But the decision should be strategic, not reflexive. Ask: does this differentiate us? Can we realistically build it? What are the long-term implications of dependency? Decide consciously.
Invest in learning.
Capability requires skills. Skills require investment. Training, tools, time to experiment: these aren't costs, they're investments in your ability to solve future problems.
Embrace imperfection.
Internal solutions won't be as polished as vendor products. That's fine. They'll be more focused on your actual needs. They'll be adaptable when those needs change. Done is better than perfect, and yours is better than theirs.
Measure capability, not just outcomes.
Track whether your organisation is becoming more capable or more dependent. Can you solve more problems than last year? Do you have more options? Are you more or less at the mercy of external parties?
The Choice
Every organisation faces a choice, whether they recognise it or not:
Path One: Dependency
Keep buying. Keep outsourcing. Keep assuming that building is someone else's job. Watch your capability atrophy and your costs increase. Hope that vendors will serve your needs well enough, forever.
Path Two: Capability
Start building. Start developing skills. Start owning the solutions that matter most. Accept that it's harder in the short term. Trust that it's better in the long term. Become an organisation that can solve its own problems.
The first path is easier to start. The second path is easier to sustain.
The first path feels safe. The second path is actually safe.
The first path is what most organisations choose, by default, without really deciding. The second path requires conscious commitment.
Who This Is For
This manifesto is for leaders who sense that something is wrong, that their organisation has become too dependent, too slow, too helpless, but haven't had a framework for thinking about it differently.
It's for builders trapped inside non-building organisations, people who see opportunities to create but are told "that's not how we do things."
It's for educators who believe students should develop capability, not just collect credentials, who resist the pressure to make everything easier and faster.
It's for anyone who's tired of waiting for vendors to solve their problems, tired of paying for software they barely use, tired of being told that building is impossible.
Capability over dependency isn't just an organisational strategy. It's a personal philosophy. It's choosing to develop skills rather than outsource them. Choosing to struggle productively rather than avoid difficulty. Choosing to own your outcomes rather than depend on others for them.
The Future Belongs to Builders
I believe we're at an inflection point.
The tools to build have never been more accessible. The cost of dependency has never been clearer. The gap between capable organisations and dependent ones has never been wider.
The organisations that develop capability now will compound their advantages for decades. They'll move faster, spend less, innovate more, and adapt to whatever comes. They'll be the ones solving problems while others wait for permission.
The organisations that stay dependent will struggle. They'll watch more capable competitors outmaneuver them. They'll pay more for less. They'll lose talent who want to build, not administer. They'll discover, too late, that the safe choice wasn't safe at all.
The future belongs to builders.
This is the manifesto. This is the choice. This is what I believe.
Capability over dependency. Now and always.
Written by
Jason La Greca
Everything he builds and everything he teaches comes back to one idea: organisations should be able to solve their own problems.
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