You build it, you run it (YBIYRI) is an approach wherein the development team responsible for writing the code also deploys and maintains it in production. It is best described in an interview with Amazon CTO Werner Vogels:

Giving developers operational responsibilities has greatly enhanced the quality of the services, both from a customer and a technology point of view. The traditional model is that you take your software to the wall that separates development and operations and throw it over and then forget about it. Not at Amazon. You build it, you run it. This brings developers into contact with the day-to-day operation of their software. It also brings them into day-to-day contact with the customer. This customer feedback loop is essential for improving the quality of the service.

Why shouldn’t the team that wrote the code be responsible when an incident occurs? This approach brings developers closer to customer feedback and real-time issues. Bridging the gap between development and operations can be beneficial for many companies. The “you build it, you run it” model addresses inefficiencies in traditional methods, where accountability is spread across different teams.

Benefits of YBIYRI

With software predominantly sold as a service, customers demand constant improvements.

These customer insights are much harder to gain when there is a wall between development and operations — operations may be sweeping problems under the rug with quick fixes, and developers will have a lower bar for operational excellence if they have too much of a safety net.

Running what you build is a crucial tenet in their DevOps-driven organizations that provides the following benefits:

• Stronger ownership and accountability - YBIYRI revolves around a sense of ownership and accountability. By entrusting a team with end-to-end responsibility, developers are accountable for their software’s performance, reliability, and user experience. When they can be paged in the middle of the night to fix something, they are more likely to prioritize quality, robustness, and long-term sustainability during development. This sense of ownership often creates a heightened focus on building resilient and maintainable code.
• Design for production - running what you build forces engineering teams to think about how their software will run in production as they design it. This can help your teams consider the operational aspects of their code and make improvements that enhance its performance and reliability. Developers will be motivated to write cleaner code, implement better error handling, and proactively address potential issues.
• Increased operational excellence - teams develop the habit of operational retrospectives, which brings together the end-to-end squad into a cross-functional review of the operational incidents, root cause assessment, and stories/tasks that need to get added to the backlog and prioritized.
• More satisfied customers - running what you build forces the entire engineering team to understand more about the customer. That knowledge is no longer limited to those operating the software, and these insights can be incredibly useful when used as a feedback loop for constant product improvement.

Trade-Offs of YBIYRI

While the “you build it, you run it” philosophy offers numerous benefits, it is not without challenges — YBIYRI is a significant evolution in thinking, culture, and development workflows for engineering teams.

A core challenge is that embracing “you build it, you run it” means changing team structures and internal culture for many businesses. It requires an openness to collaboration, new ways of thinking about products and platforms, and new team structures that break down communication barriers.

Teams must navigate potential pitfalls such as increased cognitive load on developers, the need for robust monitoring and automation, and the importance of balancing innovation with operational stability. However, organizations that successfully address these challenges often find that the benefits outweigh the drawbacks.

Getting Started with YBIYRI

Implementing a “you build it, you run it” philosophy requires a robust technical foundation to ensure engineers have the tools, resources, and processes to own their products. Adopting a “you build it, you run it” approach is impossible without a flexible platform that unlocks collaboration.

The entire premise is that software development and operations can work together seamlessly — this type of collaboration can only be unlocked with the proper tools. You must provide software projects with standard infrastructure, shared templates, and best practices. The platform should automate the provisioning and management of infrastructure and enable developers to access these resources.

Without a solid technical foundation that eases the cognitive burden, aiming for autonomous teams managing their own production software is a risky endeavor with unpredictable outcomes.

How Can StackGuardian help?

Our platform provides the necessary foundation that ensure engineers have the tools they need without spending countless hours maintaining infrastructure and worrying about how well optimsed it is. You learn more about our platform or book a demo if you want your team to work efficiently utilising YBIYRI techniques.