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Your SaaS app is adding new engaged users every day and your roadmap is growing with features to delight them! Users are requesting new 3rd party integrations, more powerful search, reporting capabilities, and live chat, oh my! Should you try and build all of these features? Should you work with partner services to add these features? The answer: it depends! In 2022, the classic "Build vs Buy" question is more nuanced than ever and we'll dig into the pros and cons when building (or buying) on Rails.
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In the RailsConf 2022 talk titled "Build vs Buy" on Rails, Colin Loretz explores the increasingly complex decision faced by software teams when determining whether to build features in-house or use third-party services. The theme revolves around the idea that this decision isn't straightforward and requires careful consideration of various factors. ### Key Points Discussed: - **Ambiguity in Decision Making**: Loretz opens with an analogy using an ambiguous figure to illustrate that perceptions differ among stakeholders. Each scenario has multiple truths, underscoring the complexity of the "Build vs Buy" dilemma. - **Challenges in Software Development**: The presentation highlights the common challenges developers face, such as maintaining APIS and addressing requests for new features while managing resources effectively. - **Continuous Integration**: Loretz emphasizes the blend of both building and buying, suggesting that often the best solution involves integrating both approaches, depending on the context and available resources. - **Integration Focus**: A case study from his company, Orbit, is presented, where they evaluated their existing integrations and decided on a sustainable method to add new ones. - **Key Considerations**: Several considerations that influence the decision-making process are discussed, including: - Team expertise and appetite for building versus integrating. - Historical context—whether previous integrations or features had been successful. - Project duration and resource allocation—understanding whether building will inevitably require more time and effort compared to purchasing a service. - Costs associated with each option—both hard and opportunity costs. - **Using Ruby on Rails**: Loretz explains how leveraging Rails facilitated their building process, allowing for better integration practices without introducing vendor-specific complications. The team also created a project called "Constellation" for seamless API integration using technologies like Sidekiq and Kiba. - **Speed and Ownership**: Building integrations in-house provided their team with ownership over the data flow and customer experience, while also setting a foundation for future development. However, they remain cautious about potential risks and the necessity of having a dedicated integration team. - **Final Thoughts**: The talk concludes with reflections on decisions made and potential future adjustments, emphasizing the importance of flexible strategies in software integration. ### Conclusions and Takeaways: - The “Build vs Buy” decision is a nuanced one that depends on various organizational factors. - Prioritize building capabilities that are core to the business while leveraging third-party services for non-core functionalities. - Implementing a flexible, Rails-based solution not only improves integration speed but also aligns with team abilities, minimizing risks down the line.
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