Build a small section of your site with Hugo using real Markdown, images, taxonomy, and navigation. Verify generated URLs, redirects, metadata, and the mobile layout. Have a nondeveloper edit and publish a page through the intended review process.
Fast builds are useful, but theme customization and content migration can dominate effort. Keep the site source versioned and run the build in CI so local and deployed output match. Compare the complete author-to-publish path, not just benchmark numbers.
Akousa