Build vs Buy: Software Systems at Jurassic Park

We were so preoccupied with whether we could, we didn’t stop to think if we should. Nowhere at Jurassic Park was this more true than how we developed software. Having the wrong software and support structures was a key factor in the failures of our first park. We were entrepreneurs launching something new and architects integrating an enterprise. And our decisions had lasting consequences. Deciding which problems were worth our time was foundational to our failure.

Join us for a retrospective of software systems at Jurassic Park. We’ll dig into case studies and explore our successes and failures. We’ll uncover the options, costs, and risks inherent in deciding what software to build, what to buy, and alternatives in between. We’ll explore the opportunity cost of building systems, the sustainability of open-source, and the risks of vendor lock-in. You’ll leave equipped to make better decisions and avoid the pitfalls we made at Jurassic Park.

Transcript

1. Jurassic Park © 1993 Universal Pictures Buildvs Buy Software Systems at Jurassic Park Todd Gardner @toddhgardner
2. Jurassic Park © 1993 Universal Pictures An Uncomfortably Close Look
3. Jurassic Park © 1993 Universal Pictures
4. Jurassic Park © 1993 Universal Pictures “We were so preoccupied with whether we could, we didn’t stop to think if we should” Dr. Ian Malcolm
5. Todd Gardner VP Informatics and Automation
6. John Hammond CEO Robert Muldoon VP Security Ray Arnold VP Operations Henry Wu Genetics Todd Gardner VP Informatics Dennis Nedry Sr. Software Developer Jurassic Park Division Leadership
7. Jurassic Park © 1993 Universal Pictures “Hold on to your butts…” Ray Arnold
8. Jurassic Park © 1993 Universal Pictures Buildvs Buy Software Systems at Jurassic Park
9. Jurassic Park © 1993 Universal Pictures Build is Unique
10. Jurassic Park © 1993 Universal Pictures Build is fun!
11. Jurassic Park © 1993 Universal Pictures Enable Ninja Developers
12. Jurassic Park © 1993 Universal Pictures Digging for the Details
13. Jurassic Park © 1993 Universal Pictures “Boot up the door locks!” Dr. Alan Grant
14. Jurassic Park © 1993 Universal Pictures Bus Factor
15. Jurassic Park © 1993 Universal Pictures Dilophosaurus Factor
16. Jurassic Park © 1993 Universal Pictures You Didn’t Say the Magic Word
17. Jurassic Park © 1993 Universal Pictures Maintenance Time
18. Jurassic Park © 1993 Universal Pictures Handling Outages
20. Jurassic Park © 1993 Universal Pictures What amazing thing could you have built instead?
21. Jurassic Park © 1993 Universal Pictures Costs to Build ! Developer Time ! Maintenance Time ! Opportunity Cost
22. Jurassic Park © 1993 Universal Pictures “We have all the problems of a major theme park and a major zoo” Ray Arnold
23. Jurassic Park © 1993 Universal Pictures Maturity is overrated.
24. Jurassic Park © 1993 Universal Pictures Buildvs Buy Software Systems at Jurassic Park
25. Jurassic Park © 1993 Universal Pictures Buildvs Buy Software Systems at Jurassic Park use
26. Jurassic Park © 1993 Universal Pictures Buy is Fast
27. Jurassic Park © 1993 Universal Pictures Buy Sucks
28. Jurassic Park © 1993 Universal Pictures Software Installation Project
29. Jurassic Park © 1993 Universal Pictures Project Manager with a shotgun
30. Jurassic Park © 1993 Universal Pictures 55% of Software Projects Fail 2016 CIO.com Study
31. Jurassic Park © 1993 Universal Pictures Not-Invented-Here Syndrome
32. Jurassic Park © 1993 Universal Pictures Industry-Standard Workflow
33. Jurassic Park © 1993 Universal Pictures System Configurability
34. Jurassic Park © 1993 Universal Pictures Vendor Lock-In
35. Jurassic Park © 1993 Universal Pictures Sticky
36. Jurassic Park © 1993 Universal Pictures “It’s a UNIX System, I Know This!” Lex Murphy
37. Jurassic Park © 1993 Universal Pictures RaptR: “Securing the Unsecurable”
39. Jurassic Park © 1993 Universal Pictures Unsustainability
40. Jurassic Park © 1993 Universal Pictures Mud on our Face
41. Jurassic Park © 1993 Universal Pictures “That is one big pile of JavaScript” Dr. Ian Malcolm
42. Jurassic Park © 1993 Universal Pictures Hello Newman!
43. Jurassic Park © 1993 Universal Pictures The Questions We Should Have Asked
44. Jurassic Park © 1993 Universal Pictures Impact of Failure
45. Jurassic Park © 1993 Universal Pictures Competitive Advantage or Competitive Parity
46. Jurassic Park © 1993 Universal Pictures “If you couldn’t sell it, buy it” Dylan Beattie
47. Jurassic Park © 1993 Universal Pictures “If you couldn’t sell it, buy it” Dylan Beattie contribute
48. Jurassic Park © 1993 Universal Pictures Bias for Building
49. Jurassic Park © 1993 Universal Pictures Don’t Make it Policy
50. Jurassic Park © 1993 Universal Pictures Error Monitoring an example
51. Jurassic Park © 1993 Universal Pictures Build? ! Edge Cases ! Costs to Build
52. Alerting Anomaly Detection Backup Monitoring the Monitoring Infrastructure Security Building JavaScript Monitoring
55. Jurassic Park © 1993 Universal Pictures Buy? ! Fast ! Sustainability
56. Jurassic Park © 1993 Universal Pictures Outside Money
57. Jurassic Park © 1993 Universal Pictures Opportunity Cost
58. Jurassic Park © 1993 Universal Pictures
59. Jurassic Park © 1993 Universal Pictures Buildvs Buy Software Systems at Jurassic Park
60. Jurassic Park © 1993 Universal Pictures Questions to Ask ! What is our bias? ! What is the Impact of Failure? ! Could we sell it? ! What could we do instead? ! Is this sustainable?
61. Jurassic Park © 1993 Universal Pictures HovedoyaIsland
62. Jurassic Park © 1993 Universal Pictures Todd Gardner @toddhgardner Buildvs Buy Software Systems at Jurassic Park