Every time I put my hand down a garbage disposal, I keep my eye trained on the switch. I’m constantly afraid somone will flick it on, mistaking it for a light switch.

In my worst nightmares, I remove my hand a few fingers short. I’m sure this irrational concern comes from movies. In The Goonies, it’s a blender, but frightening nonetheless!

So, I have some rules of operation for this dangerous machine, used to reduce food waste into small enough pieces to escape down the drain.

For example, I know not to run it without water flowing into its mechanism. But is that hot or cold water?

My father swears by cold water. “Cold water keeps the mechanical parts from overheating,” he says with absolute certainty.

My mother-in-law insists on hot water. “It melts fats into a liquid that flows down easier,” she counters, equally confident.

Go ahead and search for yourelf and you’ll find these opinions and more. Often shared with the same conviction.

Who’s right?

I will tell you, here in this memo that either my father or mother-in-law might find.

Definitively: it depends.

And that’s the point of many technical comparisons in the developer world. Python or JavaScript? Monolith or microservices? Self-hosted or cloud?

The answer to each is almost always: it depends.

I always encourage marketers to ​have an opinion and share it​. But not to the point of ignoring other arguments.

Here’s what matters: it’s not the “it depends” that developers value. It’s how you make the case for the options.

My father is right about cold water when you’re concerned about the longevity of the disposal’s motor. My mother-in-law is right about hot water when you’re dealing with greasy food waste.

The context matters.

The same principle applies when discussing technical choices with developers. ​Acknowledge the trade-offs​. Identify the specific contexts where each option excels.

Your developers don’t need you to be dogmatic about the “right” approach. They need you to understand that their specific use case matters.

So next time you’re tempted to say something is “better” without qualification, remember the garbage disposal. Cold or hot water? It depends—and that’s a perfectly valid answer, as long as you explain why.

And watch out for your hands!