> Once you have a codebase in place, things are a whole lot easier. There are far fewer decisions to be made. Really you have little choice in how to do things as the current structure dictates your options.
You still have the choice to extend the current code, or build more code around it.
For example, you have a ticket system and are now tasked to build full-text search for it. You could try to do it within the existing code base, or to add an exteral search engine, sync that data to it, and build a shallow integration between the two.
That said, you are right in that deviating from the current philosophy of the code base is a big risk, and so a big decision to make.
You still have the choice to extend the current code, or build more code around it.
For example, you have a ticket system and are now tasked to build full-text search for it. You could try to do it within the existing code base, or to add an exteral search engine, sync that data to it, and build a shallow integration between the two.
That said, you are right in that deviating from the current philosophy of the code base is a big risk, and so a big decision to make.