---
title: What's a decision you made that was unpopular but turned out right?
description: Interview · Problem-Solving · Question 20
section: mind
tags: [interview, problem-solving]
genre: reference
stability: stable
lastUpdated: 2026-04-17
url: https://fardiniqbal.com/docs/mind/interview/problem-solving/whats-a-decision-you-made-that-was-unpopular-but-turned-out-right
---


Building Tiny Thoughts in Rails instead of Next.js.

Every piece of the Tiny Platforms ecosystem runs on Next.js. The shared libraries, the design system, the component library, all built around the React ecosystem. When it came time to build the ABA data collection platform, the obvious choice was Next.js. Same stack, same patterns, shared code.

I chose Rails 8 instead. The BCBAs' clinical workflow was complex enough that I needed convention over configuration. The domain model had 32 models, 43 tables, 94 migrations. Server-rendered HTML with Turbo and Stimulus gave me the speed I needed without the complexity of client-side state management for clinical forms. Property-based testing of the mastery engine was cleaner in a framework designed for testing.

The agency founder questioned it. Why learn a new framework when I already knew the one we were using? Why break the pattern?

It turned out to be the right call. 877 commits in 71 days. 37 users, 22,940 trials, 73% MAU. The framework let me move at the speed the clinical domain demanded without fighting the tooling. Sometimes the unpopular decision is just the decision that requires explaining. And the explanation, once the results arrived, was unnecessary.