There is one common yet consistently underestimated mistake that often becomes critical for any technology startup over time: launching a project without involving a DevOps engineer. At first, it might seem that everything can be done “quick and dirty” — deploying manually, configuring through the console, editing a few lines in the config file. And it works… until it doesn’t.
Sooner or later, the time comes to “treat” what was built without a plan. Numerous cases of inefficient deployment clearly illustrate why DevOps should be part of the team from day one.
When Infrastructure Is Built Without an Architect
At Software Planet Group, clients often approach us to help resolve existing problems. A typical scenario looks like this: development begins, an MVP is launched, the first production and staging environments are set up — all manually, with no automation and no Infrastructure as Code (IaC). DevOps was never brought in. As a result, both the staging and production environments exist as isolated, manually managed, unpredictable instances. No consistency, no guaranteed reproducibility, no scaling strategy.
By the time we were brought into one such project, the situation had already become ossified: the legacy production environment was “untouchable” (because it worked), while the staging environment was in disrepair. Just then, the client requested a new European cluster — prod-eu. This gave us the opportunity to start afresh, doing things the right way: a full IaC architecture, automated deployments, and consistent environments. We reused the same code to create a new staging environment — everything worked seamlessly.
Now we had two stable, interchangeable environments (prod-eu and stg-se) that could be updated, restored, and scaled painlessly.
Meanwhile, the old production environment persisted as a separate, “special case”. Working with it meant bypassing IaC, avoiding changes, and remembering its quirks — all of which increased maintenance costs, risk, and complexity. Attempts to import this legacy infrastructure into Terraform resembled constructing a Frankenstein’s monster: patchwork code stitched together manually, ignored resources, and hardcoded dependencies.
Startups and Architecture: Why DevOps Is Not a Secondary Role
Many startups treat DevOps as something to be “added later”, once there’s something worth optimising. This is one of the most dangerous illusions. DevOps is not a fixer. DevOps is the architect. Involving a DevOps specialist from the outset enables the project to:
- build a consistent model of environments;
- support rapid scaling;
- reduce manual intervention and human error;
- automate CI/CD pipelines;
- prepare for high availability and disaster recovery.
In another project of ours, things were done differently. DevOps was involved from the beginning. Thanks to this, even years later, the infrastructure remains clear, maintainable, and reproducible. It grows organically, like a well-planned city — not like scattered buildings with no addresses or roads.
Conclusion: Infrastructure Cannot Be a By-Product
Running a project without DevOps is like building a skyscraper without consulting structural engineers. It might work fine on the lower floors — but the higher the building gets, the more cracks appear. And when it comes time to replace the foundations, the entire operation becomes a delicate game of “don’t touch it or it will break”.
DevOps should not be “on standby” — it should be there from the start. Because infrastructure is not a technical afterthought. It is the framework on which your entire product stands.
