The Interface Region Imaging Spectrograph (IRIS) mission is a small spacecraft mission launched in 2013 and currently studying the Sun. The Mission Operations and Ground System for IRIS were designed to enable a small team to operate the spacecraft for a mission duration of at least 2 years and possibly many more. The Ground System was designed to allow the operations team to maintain normal business hours, running in a 'lights out' mode for the rest of the time. The blend between off the shelf tools and custom developed scripts enabled the system to be developed by a very small development team in a short period of time. This paper will include a review of the design and development of the Mission Operations and Ground Systems for IRIS. It will also discuss the benefits realized from the approach taken, and some lessons learned from integration, test, and the operations of IRIS since its launch in June 2013.