Comments on: “Astounding IT sayings”: the inaugural post http://www.peterkretzman.com/2008/05/05/astounding-it-sayings-the-inaugural-post/ Intensely practical tips on information technology, by Peter Kretzman Thu, 28 Aug 2008 10:41:14 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.2 By: More astounding IT utterances http://www.peterkretzman.com/2008/05/05/astounding-it-sayings-the-inaugural-post/#comment-2728 More astounding IT utterances Sat, 16 Aug 2008 00:26:33 +0000 http://www.peterkretzman.com/2008/05/05/astounding-it-sayings-the-inaugural-post/#comment-2728 [...] few months back, I wrote a post on various “Astounding Sayings” that I’ve encountered in my career in information [...] […] few months back, I wrote a post on various “Astounding Sayings” that I’ve encountered in my career in information […]

]]> By: Peter Kretzman http://www.peterkretzman.com/2008/05/05/astounding-it-sayings-the-inaugural-post/#comment-1316 Peter Kretzman Fri, 09 May 2008 04:32:30 +0000 http://www.peterkretzman.com/2008/05/05/astounding-it-sayings-the-inaugural-post/#comment-1316 Great question, one that really demands a whole follow-up post, which I'll begin to sketch out. Release process has to do with ensuring "reproducible results" as well as mitigating risk (since releasing new software into production is about the riskiest thing you typically do). It covers everything from source code control, to what I call "kitting" (i.e., release packaging), to rollback definition and decision process, to testing round and round through the iterative dev/test/debug/rerelease cycle. And then, deciding when and if you're ready to launch (and no, not by looking at the calendar and seeing that a specific date has arrived). All of that is hard, and human being-dependent, and error-prone, and subject to constant forces of entropy and political pressures: in short, way more about process than it is about pure technology. Hence my statement about most companies not even being at an 8 out of 10. More to follow. Thanks for the question! Great question, one that really demands a whole follow-up post, which I’ll begin to sketch out.

Release process has to do with ensuring “reproducible results” as well as mitigating risk (since releasing new software into production is about the riskiest thing you typically do). It covers everything from source code control, to what I call “kitting” (i.e., release packaging), to rollback definition and decision process, to testing round and round through the iterative dev/test/debug/rerelease cycle. And then, deciding when and if you’re ready to launch (and no, not by looking at the calendar and seeing that a specific date has arrived).

All of that is hard, and human being-dependent, and error-prone, and subject to constant forces of entropy and political pressures: in short, way more about process than it is about pure technology. Hence my statement about most companies not even being at an 8 out of 10.

More to follow. Thanks for the question!

]]> By: Rick S http://www.peterkretzman.com/2008/05/05/astounding-it-sayings-the-inaugural-post/#comment-1306 Rick S Wed, 07 May 2008 21:43:57 +0000 http://www.peterkretzman.com/2008/05/05/astounding-it-sayings-the-inaugural-post/#comment-1306 Amusing stories. Thanks for both the entertainment and the "moral of the story" conclusions. Quite interesting and useful. You mention that you've never seen a company that was even an 8 out of 10 on the release process scale. Can you go into more detail about what criteria you would look at for something like that? Thanks. Amusing stories. Thanks for both the entertainment and the “moral of the story” conclusions. Quite interesting and useful.

You mention that you’ve never seen a company that was even an 8 out of 10 on the release process scale. Can you go into more detail about what criteria you would look at for something like that? Thanks.

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