Continuous deployment makes releases non-events

http://www.startuplessonslearned.com/2010/01/case-study-continuous-deployment-makes.html

by ashmaurya • 17 years ago

28 8 17 years ago

mpstx• 17 years ago

I've adopted a strategy (on flexvite.com) where I test and push each change immediately, but periodically roll-up and announce a list of changes since the last roll-up.

I'm still calling these roll-up summaries 'releases' on the web site since people are familiar with that concept. I've received some positive feedback about using this approach. People like the immediacy of how quickly their feedback is addressed, but they also like being able to thumb through a summary of "What's new" since they last looked.

Here are some examples of those summary pages (they look just like release changelogs): 1. http://blog.flexvite.com/2009/12/17/flexvite-splat-release/ 2. http://blog.flexvite.com/2009/11/11/pow-10-new-flexvite-beta... 3. http://blog.flexvite.com/2009/10/12/14-new-flexvite-beta-imp...

The hardest thing for me is deciding where to draw the line and do an announcement of changes that have been released recently. I've considered announcing individual changes one-by-one as they happen on appropriate mediums (i.e.-twitter), but it seems like it would be a little spammy.

ashmaurya• 17 years ago

I think a blog is the perfect medium for a periodic roll-up announcing new and noteworthy items. This allows you to highlight specific themes that can appeal to both current and border-line users.

I agree real-time tweets would be too spammy (unless you have a twitter account just for releases) but a community forum might be better for immediate announcements.

DTrejo• 17 years ago

Great article Ash, I really enjoyed it :)

btilly3• 17 years ago

I have seen this work and work well on a large website that was simultaneously releasing in something like 20 different languages.

However that company was not in the USA. And I see no way to square that development philosophy with Sarbanes-Oxley, so publicly traded companies in the USA cannot do it.

But for an interesting example of a large well-known open source project with something like that development philosophy, check out http://clang.llvm.org/. The strategy scales better than you'd expect!

thwarted2• 17 years ago

Can you explain the challenge Sarbanes-Oxley gives those publicly traded companies who want to do continuous deployment?

btilly3• 17 years ago

Publicly traded companies need to have carefully set up internal controls and audit trails on anything that can materially impact the company's financial position. If you are a web-based company, this would include the process of releasing to the website.

I do not see how to reconcile these controls and audits with the ability for developers to release main to production whenever they please. There may be a way to do it, but I don't see how.

Continuous deployment makes releases non-events

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