What Methods Streamline Software Deployment for It Managers?
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What Methods Streamline Software Deployment for It Managers?
In the fast-paced world of tech, streamlining software deployment is crucial. We gathered insights from CEOs and Software Engineers, detailing six methods they've successfully used. From implementing CI/CD pipelines to adopting a DevOps approach, discover the diverse strategies that can revolutionize your deployment processes.
- Implement CI/CD Pipelines
- Host a 'Demo Day' Event
- Break Down Large Tasks
- Invest in Employee Training
- Combine Multiple Deployment Methods
- Automate Testing in Mono-Repository
- Adopt a DevOps Approach
Implement CI/CD Pipelines
As a business that develops our own software, we're always looking for ways to streamline our software deployment.
What I've found to be useful with this is having Continuous Integration and Continuous Deployment (CI/CD) pipelines. I use this method as I can automate steps of my software delivery process, such as code commits, and deploying my product to production environments.
I would highly recommend anyone to make use of this method as it is fantastic for streamlining software development!
Host a 'Demo Day' Event
At Carepatron, we have a thing called 'Demo Day,' which, simply put, is like an adult version of 'Show and Tell.' In-house developers get to flex what they're working on, and the rest of the team acts as the audience, providing all sorts of perspectives on what is being presented. It allows for a collaborative and creativity-nurturing environment that helps speed up and improve the development and deployment process.
Break Down Large Tasks
If I am given a large feature, the first thing I do is read the task 2-3 times and make sure I fully understand what is expected from the task. Then I divide the large task into small sub-tasks, which can be assigned to different people and developed in parallel. If it is a feature task and one sub-module has to be delivered, I create four sub-tasks. One is UI changes, which include only front-end changes like HTML, CSS, React, etc. The second one is DB changes; any database migration needed for the feature will be added there. Third are API changes; all the APIs required for the page will be developed in this task. Last is front-end functionality; these are changes to make the UI work with the API we were creating.
Invest in Employee Training
At TrackingMore, we value our employees and do our best to ensure they are well-prepared for any software deployment process. We invest heavily in their training by involving reputable consultants to help us design a training program that improves the skills of our employees and increases their capacity to handle the deployment process. Furthermore, we cater to the individual needs of each employee by factoring in their feedback in the training program and customizing it to their needs. Using this strategy, we've successfully deployed software in the company with minimal hitches.
Combine Multiple Deployment Methods
There are multiple established methods of deployment, such as Basic, Rolling, Multi-Service, Blue/Green, and so on. For complex software projects, there is no single method that works perfectly, especially when there are too many components and dependencies involved. So, in practice, we often combine multiple methods based on what they do best in progressive stages of deployment.
In hybrid cloud software deployment, we have to make sure that the deployment works well for all kinds of cloud services as well as on-premises servers. We follow something called a progressive deployment method. This involves using CI/CD pipelines for automated testing and builds, as well as different deployment setups for different stages of software development, such that there is always a feature gap between two deployments. This helps us focus more on engineering efforts and catch bugs early in the development process.
Automate Testing in Mono-Repository
We utilize automated unit, integration, and end-to-end testing on the submission of any body of work to our shared mono-repository. This allows people to iterate quickly and easily identify the root cause for any breakages to this shared testing framework, which may be blocking submissions for other developers.
Adopt a DevOps Approach
In our restaurant SaaS, we use a DevOps approach to streamline software deployment with continuous integration and deployment. Not to mention, it helps with regular monitoring and logging, too. We've found this to be the best way to ensure faster delivery of the software.
