As the VP of Development at a large multinational wireless telecommunication company, Christian deals with a variety of challenges every day. For example, this morning he reviewed the results of an internal audit of their development teams and their processes. The goal of the audit was to identify and resolve problems now, so the company […]
November 19th, 2018 |
Published in Agile Release Management, Deployment Management, DevOps, Release Management, Test Environment Management, Value Stream Management
The world of software development seems to create new buzzwords, processes, and methodologies almost as fast as it develops new software tools. The reason is that the industry is constantly evolving and becoming more efficient. However, in the software development world, there’s no such thing as one-size-fits-all solutions. Some methodologies will work better in certain […]
November 12th, 2018 |
Published in Agile Release Management, Deployment Management, DevOps, Release Management
When development teams create applications for the banking industry, they might find themselves interacting with systems of record. If they develop for telecom, they might end up learning about the SS7 Protocol. These systems, developed during the dawn of the information age, tend to be difficult to understand, and they don’t integrate well or predictably […]
August 22nd, 2018 |
Published in Agile Release Management, Release Management
Delivery Assurance isn’t a new concept for companies developing and delivering software. The overarching goal – ensuring that new software is delivered on time and on quality, whilst maintaining the integrity of applications in production – has not changed. However due to increases in IT complexity, alongside higher expectations of agility and quality, the need […]
August 22nd, 2018 |
Published in Agile Release Management, IT Governance, Release Management
When digital disruption thought leaders discuss examples of companies that are innovating, startups are a common choice. For example, the classic story is of Uber’s ability to quickly redefine the transportation business. What was once dominated by an antiquated taxi system became an industry led by Uber and its digital disruption model. However, start-ups aren’t […]
August 22nd, 2018 |
Published in Agile Release Management, Release Management
Despite the promises of DevOps collaboration, software release processes have long been stuck with the myth that IT departments can’t have the best of both the speed and reliability worlds. However, the latest State of DevOps report revealed that IT organizations are finding ways to bust the myth and marry speed and reliability for more […]
August 22nd, 2018 |
Published in Agile Release Management, DevOps, Release Management
The IT community is constantly searching for ways to deliver on the increasing demand for faster business innovation at lower costs. Agile development processes seem to have taken over as the dominant means of IT delivery, but the reality is far more complex. The enterprise IT landscape is stuck between two pools of IT projects […]
August 22nd, 2018 |
Published in Agile Release Management, Release Management
The reality of modern software development and delivery mean a few things. 1. Software projects are increasingly agile The term “Agile” is often overused, what does it mean in the context of release management? While “Agile” is a development process, it can also translate to software projects that are delivered more frequently with less ceremony […]
August 22nd, 2018 |
Published in Agile Release Management, Release Management
Software is eating the world. As companies move forward, they must adjust their business practices by automating manual processes with intelligent software solutions. Classic companies such as bookstores, taxi services, and hotels are now led by software technology companies. For example, one healthcare provider has an IT team of 11,000 people rivaling the top software […]
August 22nd, 2018 |
Published in Agile Release Management, Release Management
Large organizations engaged in enterprise-wide release management seldom have a single “enterprise release manager.” Instead of a single, “enterprise-wide” responsibility, most large, decentralized organizations assign responsibility for more strategic, release management functions to several existing roles. Release Management addresses a critical gap in the enterprise. It is the bridge between tactical ‘agility ’ and a […]
August 21st, 2018 |
Published in Agile Release Management, Release Management
Enterprise software development has undergone a dramatic transformation in the last decade as most companies have transitioned to more iterative, Agile approaches to software delivery. This overall acceleration of the software development effort has been focused squarely on more strategic practices related to software development. From source control to scrums to deployment automation, most IT […]
August 21st, 2018 |
Published in Agile Release Management, Release Management
Three characteristics drive the need to establish a single system of record. They are all related to the complications that accompany scale. Gaps between Teams Companies that benefit most from Release Management are large enterprises consisting of multiple departments, which span one or more business units, and are supported by one or more IT departments. […]
August 21st, 2018 |
Published in Agile Release Management, Release Management
‘Release Management is the management of the software delivery lifecycle across multiple projects and departments within a large organization. It is the orchestration of activities and resources across multiple, interdependent software releases and changes initiatives to deliver software at scale. While managing both the technical and organizational complications that accompany delivering changes to enterprise-scale, composite […]
August 21st, 2018 |
Published in Agile Release Management, Release Management
The Future is Software Software is the competitive differentiator driving every business, in every sector, in one way or another. Every enterprise must evolve its software development and delivery processes in order to compete in this new world, or face the prospect of being disrupted. With this shift in focus, comes challenges of accelerating software […]
August 9th, 2018 |
Published in Agile Release Management, DevOps, Release Management, Value Stream Management
Given the scale and complexity of enterprise applications, trying to improve release cycle time without compromising quality is a constant concern. In tightly-coupled architectures, release pipelines have multiple system dependencies which adds to the complexity of maintaining quality while managing the increased velocity of change. An effective release process requires close collaboration across all teams, […]
March 14th, 2018 |
Published in Agile Release Management, Release Management, Test Environment Management
In the second part of our conversation with Gary Gruver (read part 1 here), we continue to discuss delivery pipeline inefficiencies of enterprise releases. As Gary describes in his book Starting and Scaling DevOps: “The biggest inefficiencies in most large organizations exists in the large, complex, tightly coupled systems that require coordination across large numbers […]
January 15th, 2018 |
Published in Agile Release Management, Deployment Management, DevOps, Test Environment Management
In his book, Applying Agile and DevOps at Scale, Gary Gruver talks about the differences between the application deployment pipeline of a loosely coupled architecture vs a tightly coupled architecture typical of large enterprises. In loosely coupled architectures, release trains achieve quality validation independently. He uses multiple parallel train tracks to illustrate this delivery independence. […]
January 8th, 2018 |
Published in Agile Release Management, Deployment Management, DevOps, Test Environment Management
While the DevOps movement and associated technologies have garnered much attention and fanfare, few have addressed the core issue—the handoff from development to operations. This blog post explains why Release Management is the bridge between development and operations, and how you can strengthen that bridge with the right approach, tools, teams, and processes. The Chasm […]
June 26th, 2017 |
Published in Agile Release Management, Release Management
Business is demanding better, faster delivery of value from IT so it can compete in a market that’s moving at breakneck speed. How can IT accelerate business outcomes if it’s taking nine months to complete projects? First and most important, align IT teams with business goals: acquire new customers, retain current customers, and boost revenue. […]
April 28th, 2017 |
Published in Agile Release Management, Release Management
“The core idea of Lean is to maximize customer value.” Lean Enterprise Institute What is Lean? Businesses are being driven up against the wall by continual industry disruption. Many are fighting back by adopting Lean as a means to support business transformation. The aim is simple: create more value for customers with fewer resources. Lean […]
April 12th, 2017 |
Published in Agile Release Management, Release Management
That’s not a fancy twist on a popular approach in IT. This post is about untangling the mess Agile Release Planning has become. We’re living in an age where we’re chasing the latest buzzwords and trends. We hardly slow down to look at the path we’ve covered to see if we’ve improved or not. It’s […]
April 10th, 2017 |
Published in Agile Release Management
To make sure we’re on the same page, let’s start by defining what we mean by a silo. “They are nothing more than barriers… between departments… causing people… to work against each other.” Patrick Lencioni in Silos, Politics, and Turf Wars Thanks to the work of Lencioni we have a good framework for understanding the […]
March 21st, 2017 |
Published in Agile Release Management
Rising costs. Delays. Failed deployments. Outages. Your risk is increasing and you’re scrambling to figure out why. The trigger is a lack of visibility. And it is the single biggest reason your release risk is going up for dev, for ops, and for the business.
March 15th, 2017 |
Published in Agile Release Management, Release Management
Your calendar is filled with release reviews, but it’s looking busy and not exactly doing much. Every time you glance at it, you cringe. You promise yourself you would free up some time so you can actually get stuff done. But you never get around to doing that because you don’t know where to start […]
March 2nd, 2017 |
Published in Agile Release Management, Release Management
