Overcoming the fear of deployments

by @andreitognolo

As we grow up, we're often encouraged to think of fear as a weakness,

just another childish thing to discard (…)

Karen Thompson Walker [1]

Shelly Kagan [2]

SOMETHING BAD

3 Conditions

SOMETHING BAD

3 Conditions

NON-NEGLIGIBLECHANCE

0% 100%

Shelly Kagan [2]

SOMETHING BAD

3 Conditions

NON-NEGLIGIBLECHANCE

SOMEUNCERTAINTY

0% 100%

Shelly Kagan [2]

SOMETHING BAD

3 Conditions

NON-NEGLIGIBLECHANCE

SOMEUNCERTAINTY

0% 100%

(something that you care)

(something unpredictable)

Shelly Kagan [2]

(un)predictability

Is it possible to have a completely predictabledeployment process?

(un)predictability

(un)predictability

Construct a house

(un)predictability

Cynefin Framework [3]

(COMPLICATED)

cause and effect requires analysis

Construct a house Create software

(un)predictability

(COMPLICATED) (COMPLEX) (*)

cause and effect can only be perceived in retrospect, but not in

advance

cause and effect requires analysis

Cynefin Framework [3](*) Software development is not only made of complex activities

Construct a house Create software

(un)predictability

(COMPLICATED)

Require tests after!

cause and effect can only be perceived in retrospect, but not in

advance

cause and effect requires analysis

Cynefin Framework [3](*) Software development is not only made of complex activities

(COMPLEX) (*)

(un)predictability

Is it possible to have a completely predictabledeployment process?

(un)predictability

Is it possible to have a completely predictabledeployment process?

Not completely predictable

(un)predictability

Is it possible to have a completely predictabledeployment process?

Not completely predictable

Some fear makes sense

The amount of fear should be appropriate to the size of "the bad"

How much fear?

Worst thing possibleR

eque

sts

per s

econ

d

Worst thing possibleR

eque

sts

per s

econ

d

Deploy

Req

uest

s pe

r sec

ond

Worst thing possible

Deploy

Worst thing possible

deploy new version

Make it available

(avoiding)

Worst thing possible

deploy new version

Make it available

smoke test

(avoiding)

A really bad thing

run builds

A really bad thing

run builds

A really bad thing

run builds

build logs

A really bad thing

run builds

build logs

tail logs

A really bad thing

TestPyramid

Martin Fowler [4]

(avoiding)

You can’t predict everything

ps: I don’t like gambling

+ > 5

You can’t predict everything

ps: I don’t like gambling

Are you afraid of betting € 10,000?

+ > 5

You can’t predict everything

One after the

After the first result, you can give up and lose € 1,000

ps: I don’t like gambling

(avoiding)

You can’t predict everything(avoiding)

You can’t predict everything

FEATURE TOGGLE

if toggle on { new code

} else { old code

}

(avoiding)

You can’t predict everything

FEATURE TOGGLE

(avoiding)

if toggle on { new code

} else { old code

}

What is the cause?

Create software(COMPLEX)

cause and effect can only be perceived in retrospect, but not in

advance

What is the cause?

07fc5cb Add ability to ... 1c6a8fb Refactor database 79b83c6 Remove unused ... 657fdea Add migration ... 07537c2 Change signature ... 6b7a12d Improve ajax ... 7bffaa4 Add stylesheet ... ce9676d Add dependency ... cb9b60b Change nginx ... 3311736 Remove duplicated ...

What is the cause?

May 2015 [5]

What is the cause?

master

my-branchmerge

deploy

What is the cause?

master

deploys

(avoiding)

TRUNK BASED DEVELOPMENT

What is the cause?

master

deploys

Feature Toggle

(avoiding)

TRUNK BASED DEVELOPMENT

deployment != release

What is the cause?

79b83c6 Remove unused ...

master

(avoiding)

What is the cause?

master

deploys

If it hurts, do it more often

If you are afraid, do it more often

(avoiding)

Culture

Culture

If people are afraid to get blamed, they will usually hide problems, at the risk of creating even bigger problems.

Highly unhealthy.

Blog post link [6]

Culture

Development Team

Operations Team

It’s your fault!

No, it’s your fault!

Culture

It’s our responsibility!

DevOps Culture

Takeaway List

Takeaway List

Don’t be afraid to be afraid :)

Takeaway List

Thank you!@andreitognolo

github.com/andreitognolo

andreitognolo@gmail.com

[1] https://www.ted.com/talks/karen_thompson_walker_what_fear_can_teach_us

[2] http://oyc.yale.edu/philosophy/phil-176/lecture-22

[3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cynefin_Framework

[4] http://martinfowler.com/bliki/TestPyramid.html

[5] https://www.thoughtworks.com/radar/techniques/long-lived-branches-with-gitflow

[6] http://tech.transferwise.com/blameless-postmortems/

References