The MongoDB Backup Service was developed by the MMS team as a dogfood project to demonstrate best practices for implementing backup capabilities. The service replicates MongoDB instances to cloud storage, taking snapshots every six hours, with configurable retention policies. The development process involved addressing core challenges such as capacity planning without prior knowledge of client workloads, providing a lightweight agent that installs and configures easily, and storing client data efficiently. To mitigate risk, the team followed agile methodologies by building working systems early, focusing on areas of highest ignorance, and using feedback from rapid iterations to reduce risk. The roadmap involved defining the service's features, identifying areas where existing components couldn't meet needs, and gathering knowledge during prototyping, alpha, and beta stages.