10)	“Does anyone know what a “build master” is?”
9)	“But it worked in staging!”
8)	“That bug again, I love how it keeps coming back.”
7)	“What does KPI stand for?”
6)	“So our application wasn’t working all weekend and our customers had to tell us?”
5)	“We are having browser issues; our SaaS product doesn’t work in any of them.”
4)	“QA found 4,952 bugs and doesn’t have time to finish testing the other 50% of the code.”
3)	“The new code is twice as slow as the old code, and still doesn’t work”
2)	“There are ways to automate build & testing? Wish I knew that 6 months ago.”
1)	“The release is late, AGAIN! Does this equate to job security?”

Why these are all tongue-in-cheek, the reality is if you are in software development, they probably resonate with you. These can be strong hints that you need to upgrade your software development process to automate your builds, run automated smoke and acceptance tests that cover key use cases and automate the deployment so it is repeatable and easy. DevOps is in an integral part of any software release in today’s fast release cycles.

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There are several aspects to DevOps, but when it comes to automating your build, test and deploy to achieve reliability, quality and velocity there are 4 areas to focus on:

Build & Deploy Automation

Fortunately there are quite a few tools that serve various purposes in the automation process. These include Jenkins, Hudson and Bamboo to name a few. Like any software, there is no one-size-fits-all solution, so it’s important you understand when it is best to use each tool and how they integrate with other services and repositories.

Database Automation

It is important to automate everything that goes into a build of working software. This includes the data and database schemas that are required for the new features. Data could be application data or environment data. Failure to manage your data and schema with the same rigour you use for code will mean continued promotion problems as you release product.

Server Automation

Whatever you do, never allow anyone to log into a server and perform manual configuration. There are many excellent frameworks available to encapsulate this and automate the promotion to new environments depending on the hosting framework or provider you choose.

Test Automation

There are many, many choices for testing as well. At Duo Design we prefer Cucumber and Capybara with Selenium and Sauce Labs to nail user level acceptance tests across browsers. These tests are written in human readable use cases that are actually runnable. We also have had good results using SoapUI for REST service testing. But again, each situation is unique, so it is best to assess the situation and decide what tools are best for your project.

Like all aspects of software development, there is a lot to know to get a release out on time and done right. We have the experience to do this and are more than happy to answer your questions with a free consultation to see if we can help you.

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