Building future-proof and scalable data systems is a challenging endeavor that requires careful tool selection, involving considerations such as data warehouses, object storage, cloud providers, protocols, and programming languages. To aid in this decision-making process, several best practices can be employed. These include understanding the problem thoroughly by defining technical and business requirements, evaluating existing tools and resources without defaulting to familiar solutions, choosing tools that specialize in addressing the specific challenge, conducting comprehensive research through features analysis and stakeholder consultations, and ensuring the selected tool's scalability to handle future demands. By following these practices, organizations can make informed decisions while avoiding the pitfalls of relying solely on familiar tools or over-promising solutions.