Releasing too often !

One of the principles behind Agile manifesto says “Our highest priority is to satisfy the customer through early and continuous delivery of valuable software”.
I have underlined the word “Continuous Delivery” and “valuable software”. If the software being delivered is of not much value then there is no point in releasing it. Delivering a software is a strenuous task.
It includes activities starting from verifying the functionality getting released, regressing the functionality which is already implemented, preparing release notes and doing installer testing. These things form a part of the Test plan. Apart from Test plan, we also need to prepare a Rollout plan which will take care of how the build will be rolled out to potential users. This may include disabling it for some users and enabling it to only a smaller segment of users for a quicker feedback coming in a controlled manner. Also the rollout plan take care of way of distributing software. Another planning item which is commonly ignored is Backout plan. What if we find something critical not working, what if the installer testing fails. For each and every release we plan , we should prepare a back out plan in case if something fails unexpectedly.
So what I wanted to highlight is that the continuous delivery comes at the cost of above mentioned activities which consumes quite a significant amount of time. So if we as a part of Software development team is not adding considerable value to the software then there is no point in Continuous delivery.

Comments

  1. UnknownJanuary 04, 2011

    Nishant,

    I understand your point of view here, but I think you might also want to point out some must-haves for continuous/frequent delivery like functional tests/automation and planning etc. without which you fall into your current predicament.

    r.

    ReplyDelete
  2. AnonymousJanuary 04, 2011

    Isn't the point of continuous delivery that you aim to make releasing software no longer a strenuous task?

    It's also worth mentioning that usually when people talk about continuous delivery they're not necessarily saying you release every day/week/etc. but that you are able to release if required.

    Rob

    ReplyDelete
  3. Nishant VermaJanuary 04, 2011

    @Runjan: Absolutely right! There are some must haves for continuous delivery or for even implementing any software development methodology. The point I wanted to make is we should not mistake "Continuous delivery" with "releasing too often". You rightly pointed out that we land into such situations when we leave some basic must-have like good smoke coverage, regression suite which reduces the amount of QA effort to test the build going out.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Your comments will be reviewed and then published !

Popular posts from this blog

The 3 qualities that will always help you become better at almost anything…

Image
Have we ever noticed how excited we are when we start anything? But it’s a sad fact that 70% of people abandon what they have started with so much energy and love. It could be as small as building a hobby or starting a pet project or even an activity or a side learning we started. “ Well begun is half done .” Aristotle did say this but we are judged for how we have finished something. You separate yourself fro m  the masses when you choose to give that task a finish.  The first quality is finishing off what you started and it helps develop mental stamina or willpower.   It builds confidence and inculcates as a habit in a long run. You don’t need to sign up for the mammoth activity to build this habit, even finishing mundane day-to-day routine tasks will help. Diligence — the quality of working carefully and with a lot of effort Diligence is a quality that almost never will get unnoticed. It’s one of the underlying traits of grea...
Read More »

Embracing the Journey: Finding Joy in the Process

Image
 In our fast-paced world, it’s easy to get caught up in chasing our goals. Whether it's a career milestone, a fitness target, or a financial aim, we often fixate on the end result. But recently, I came across a quote by Sal Di Stefano that struck a chord with me: “The man who loves walking will walk further than the man who loves the destination.” Rediscovering the Joy of the Journey This quote reminded me of something profound – the importance of loving the journey, not just the destination. When we enjoy the process itself, we find a deeper, more sustainable source of motivation. This mindset can be a game-changer, not just professionally but personally as well. A Personal Anecdote: My Professional Journey Let me share a bit of my own experience. As a software engineer turned entrepreneur, I initially focused heavily on the end goals: launching the company, acquiring clients, and hitting revenue targets. But over time, I realized that what kept me going during tough times was not...
Read More »

How to install Android Emulator on Windows

Image
As part of my testing work, I am currently working on using webdriver to test on Android. So I had to install Android Emulator on Windows 7. Below are the sequential steps and I hope it will ease some pain on getting Android emulator on your Windows 7 box. Download the installer from http://developer.android.com/sdk/index.html Install it to a location (like: C:\Program Files\Android) Launch “SDK Manager.exe” It will launch a “Android SDK and AVD Manager”. By default “Installed packages” will be highlighted. On the pop up “Choose Packages to Install”, there will be some packages selected already. Go ahead with the “Install”. 4.    Once it is done, select “Virtual Devices” to create one for you. Click on “New” and enter some name. Target as “Android 2.2 – API Level 8”. Select Size as “512” and “ Built-in ” to be “WVGA854” and click on “ Create AVD ”. 5. Once done select the Virtual device you created and click on Start . You can find the “Start” button on t...
Read More »