You’ve discovered a product that might help you with your job: perhaps a book that will teach you a new and relevant skill, or software that will speed up development. Since you do want to write software better and faster, you are considering buying this product. But, then again, the product costs money, and maybe that money is better spent on something else.
So should you buy the product or not?
How do you decide?
If it is worth buying, how can you convince your boss to approve the purchase?
While it’s impossible to know with certainty, a few simple heuristics can make the decision much easier. Which heuristic to use depends on your situation, of course. So this article will cover:
- Buying products with your employer’s money: the “hours-saved” heuristic.
- Buying products on your own, and why you should usually restrict this to educational products.
- Some concrete examples to make this all clearer.
- Saving money, including when you live in a low-income country.