# Making the wrong choice on build vs buy

DevFeed: [Making the wrong choice on build vs buy](<https://devfeed.tech/articles/making-the-wrong-choice-on-build-vs-buy-11698.md>)

Original publisher: [Read original article](<https://incident.io/blog/build-vs-buy>)

Author: Isaac Seymour

Published: 2022-07-12T00:00:00Z

Content type: opinion

Language: en

Sources: [The incident.io Blog](<https://devfeed.tech/sources/the-incident-io-blog.md>)

Topics: [Software](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/software.md>), [App](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/app.md>), [coding](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/coding.md>)

Tags: [app](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/app.md>), [bugs](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/bugs.md>), [building](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/building.md>), [incident](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/incident.md>), [incident-channel](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/incident-channel.md>), [incident-management](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/incident-management.md>), [incident-response](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/incident-response.md>), [outage](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/outage.md>), [post-mortem](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/post-mortem.md>), [projects](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/projects.md>), [slack-incident](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/slack-incident.md>), [software](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/software.md>), [work](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/work.md>)

## AI overview

The article recounts a cautionary build-versus-buy experience involving an internal expenses application. A simple initial implementation expanded into reporting, receipt forwarding, approvals, manager tracking, and ongoing bug fixing, consuming time that could have been spent on the company's primary product. It argues that internal systems are often less valuable than the products a company sells and require considering long-term maintenance and opportunity costs.

## Source excerpt

A cautionary tale of building software rather than buying it, and tips for making the right choice.