Three myths about infrastructure as code

It comes up on almost every project, usually later than it should. A few things about infrastructure as code that get repeated more often than they get checked.

Cloud work rewards teams who automate early and punishes teams who click through consoles. It is the sort of thing that looks like polish right up until it costs you an enquiry.

“It only matters for big sites”

Clicking around a console is not a reproducible environment. Small and consistent beats large and occasional here. Doing this properly once is usually cheaper than doing it approximately three times.

“We can deal with it after launch”

Sometimes true, usually expensive. The teams that handle this well are rarely the ones with the biggest budgets.

“Our platform handles it”

Rebuilding from scratch should be a routine operation. The teams that handle this well are rarely the ones with the biggest budgets. The teams that stay on top of it are the ones who put it on a calendar rather than a wish list.

How to tell if yours is fine

The bill is a design document: it tells you exactly what your architecture actually does. Three things worth confirming about infrastructure as code before you move on:

• Someone can say what the current setup is without going to look
• Clicking around a console is not a reproducible environment — and you know whether that is true here
• There is a way to tell whether the last change to this helped

If you want a second opinion on how yours is set up, ask.