diff --git a/CONTRIBUTING.md b/CONTRIBUTING.md
index 07537e75018..c3006ebd93e 100644
--- a/CONTRIBUTING.md
+++ b/CONTRIBUTING.md
@@ -151,116 +151,31 @@ cd $CUDF_HOME
 ./build.sh --help
 ```
 
-### Build, install and test cuDF libraries for contributors
+#### Building for development
 
-The general workflow is provided below. Please also see the last section about
-[code formatting](#code-formatting).
-
-#### `libcudf` (C++)
-
-- If you're only interested in building the library (and not the unit tests):
-
-```bash
-cd $CUDF_HOME
-./build.sh libcudf
-```
-
-- If, in addition, you want to build tests:
+To build Python packages for development purposes, add the `--pydevelop` flag.
+To build C++ tests, you can also request that build.sh build the `test` target.
+To build all libraries and tests, with Python packages in development mode, simply run
 
 ```bash
-./build.sh libcudf tests
+./build.sh --pydevelop libcudf libcudf_kafka cudf dask_cudf cudf_kafka custreamz
 ```
 
-- To run the tests:
+To run the C++ tests, run
 
 ```bash
-make test
+ctest --test-dir ${CUDF_HOME}/cpp/build  # libcudf
+ctest --test-dir ${CUDF_HOME}/cpp/libcudf_kafka/build  # libcudf_kafka
 ```
 
-#### `cudf` (Python)
-
-- First, build the `libcudf` C++ library following the steps above
-
-- To build and install in edit/develop `cudf` Python package:
-```bash
-cd $CUDF_HOME/python/cudf
-python setup.py build_ext --inplace
-python setup.py develop
-```
+To run python tests, run
 
 - To run `cudf` tests:
 ```bash
 cd $CUDF_HOME/python
-pytest -v cudf/cudf/tests
-```
-
-#### `dask-cudf` (Python)
-
-- First, build the `libcudf` C++ and `cudf` Python libraries following the steps above
-
-- To install the `dask-cudf` Python package in editable/develop mode:
-```bash
-cd $CUDF_HOME/python/dask_cudf
-python setup.py build_ext --inplace
-python setup.py develop
-```
-
-- To run `dask_cudf` tests:
-```bash
-cd $CUDF_HOME/python
-pytest -v dask_cudf
-```
-
-#### `libcudf_kafka` (C++)
-
-- If you're only interested in building the library (and not the unit tests):
-
-```bash
-cd $CUDF_HOME
-./build.sh libcudf_kafka
-```
-
-- If, in addition, you want to build tests:
-
-```bash
-./build.sh libcudf_kafka tests
-```
-
-- To run the tests:
-
-```bash
-make test
-```
-
-#### `cudf-kafka` (Python)
-
-- First, build the `libcudf` and `libcudf_kafka` libraries following the steps above
-
-- To install the `cudf-kafka` Python package in editable/develop mode:
-
-```bash
-cd $CUDF_HOME/python/cudf_kafka
-python setup.py build_ext --inplace
-python setup.py develop
-```
-
-#### `custreamz` (Python)
-
-- First, build `libcudf`, `libcudf_kafka`, and `cudf_kafka` following the steps above
-
-- To install the `custreamz` Python package in editable/develop mode:
-
-```bash
-cd $CUDF_HOME/python/custreamz
-python setup.py build_ext --inplace
-python setup.py develop
-```
-
-- To run `custreamz` tests :
-
-```bash
-cd $CUDF_HOME/python
-pytest -v custreamz
+pytest -v ${CUDF_HOME}/python/cudf/cudf/tests
+pytest -v ${CUDF_HOME}/python/dask_cudf/dask_cudf/ # There are tests in both tests/ and io/tests/
+pytest -v ${CUDF_HOME}/python/custreamz/custreamz/tests
 ```
 
 #### `cudf` (Java):
diff --git a/build.sh b/build.sh
index 3945f072cf9..e5daf2f3451 100755
--- a/build.sh
+++ b/build.sh
@@ -17,7 +17,7 @@ ARGS=$*
 # script, and that this script resides in the repo dir!
 REPODIR=$(cd $(dirname $0); pwd)
 
-VALIDARGS="clean libcudf cudf cudfjar dask_cudf benchmarks tests libcudf_kafka cudf_kafka custreamz -v -g -n -l --allgpuarch --disable_nvtx --opensource_nvcomp  --show_depr_warn --ptds -h --build_metrics --incl_cache_stats"
+VALIDARGS="clean libcudf cudf cudfjar dask_cudf benchmarks tests libcudf_kafka cudf_kafka custreamz -v -g -n --pydevelop -l --allgpuarch --disable_nvtx --opensource_nvcomp  --show_depr_warn --ptds -h --build_metrics --incl_cache_stats"
 HELP="$0 [clean] [libcudf] [cudf] [cudfjar] [dask_cudf] [benchmarks] [tests] [libcudf_kafka] [cudf_kafka] [custreamz] [-v] [-g] [-n] [-h] [--cmake-args=\\\"<args>\\\"]
    clean                         - remove all existing build artifacts and configuration (start
                                    over)
@@ -33,6 +33,7 @@ HELP="$0 [clean] [libcudf] [cudf] [cudfjar] [dask_cudf] [benchmarks] [tests] [li
    -v                            - verbose build mode
    -g                            - build for debug
    -n                            - no install step (does not affect Python)
+   --pydevelop                   - Install Python packages in editable mode
    --allgpuarch                  - build for all supported GPU architectures
    --disable_nvtx                - disable inserting NVTX profiling ranges
    --opensource_nvcomp           - disable use of proprietary nvcomp extensions
@@ -69,6 +70,7 @@ BUILD_PER_THREAD_DEFAULT_STREAM=OFF
 BUILD_REPORT_METRICS=OFF
 BUILD_REPORT_INCL_CACHE_STATS=OFF
 USE_PROPRIETARY_NVCOMP=ON
+PYTHON_ARGS_FOR_INSTALL="-m pip install --no-build-isolation --no-deps"
 
 # Set defaults for vars that may not have been defined externally
 #  FIXME: if INSTALL_PREFIX is not set, check PREFIX, then check
@@ -228,6 +230,9 @@ fi
 if hasArg --incl_cache_stats; then
     BUILD_REPORT_INCL_CACHE_STATS=ON
 fi
+if hasArg --pydevelop; then
+    PYTHON_ARGS_FOR_INSTALL="${PYTHON_ARGS_FOR_INSTALL} -e"
+fi
 
 # Append `-DFIND_CUDF_CPP=ON` to EXTRA_CMAKE_ARGS unless a user specified the option.
 if [[ "${EXTRA_CMAKE_ARGS}" != *"DFIND_CUDF_CPP"* ]]; then
@@ -333,7 +338,7 @@ if buildAll || hasArg cudf; then
 
     cd ${REPODIR}/python/cudf
     SKBUILD_CMAKE_ARGS="-DCMAKE_PREFIX_PATH=${INSTALL_PREFIX};-DCMAKE_LIBRARY_PATH=${LIBCUDF_BUILD_DIR};-DCMAKE_CUDA_ARCHITECTURES=${CUDF_CMAKE_CUDA_ARCHITECTURES};${EXTRA_CMAKE_ARGS}" \
-        python -m pip install --no-build-isolation --no-deps .
+        python ${PYTHON_ARGS_FOR_INSTALL} .
 fi
 
 
@@ -341,7 +346,7 @@ fi
 if buildAll || hasArg dask_cudf; then
 
     cd ${REPODIR}/python/dask_cudf
-    python -m pip install --no-build-isolation --no-deps .
+    python ${PYTHON_ARGS_FOR_INSTALL} .
 fi
 
 if hasArg cudfjar; then
@@ -369,11 +374,11 @@ fi
 if hasArg cudf_kafka; then
     cd ${REPODIR}/python/cudf_kafka
     SKBUILD_CMAKE_ARGS="-DCMAKE_PREFIX_PATH=${INSTALL_PREFIX};-DCMAKE_LIBRARY_PATH=${LIBCUDF_BUILD_DIR};${EXTRA_CMAKE_ARGS}"
-        python -m pip install --no-build-isolation --no-deps .
+        python ${PYTHON_ARGS_FOR_INSTALL} .
 fi
 
 # build custreamz Python package
 if hasArg custreamz; then
     cd ${REPODIR}/python/custreamz
-    python -m pip install --no-build-isolation --no-deps .
+    python ${PYTHON_ARGS_FOR_INSTALL} .
 fi