Why those who build should also operate your products

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~160 word | ~1 min read

Do you remember what it was like what Dev and QA were separate teams? The enmity between the groups? The finger-pointing? Development and Quality are not separate functions, adding value independently. You cannot test Quality in. You must build it in. We thought it made us more efficient. But by separating these concerns we created friction in our companies. By separating integral parts we impeded the function of both.

Consider another pattern in this same light. Who maintains the software you built? Many companies separate Maintenance from Build. On the surface this is in the name of efficiency. We try to keep our capacity focused on either building or on maintaining. But are we actually becoming more efficient? Or are we separating integral parts again?

You cannot test maintainability into a product. Adding it later is expensive. Cheaper to build it in. Just like Quality. An economical, effective software product is maintainable. So, Who should keep a product running? The team that built it.