Three Cheers for Release Engineering
The first time I was on a modern Release Engineering team, I was skeptical. I had worked with, and managed, “build” or “installer” teams. They often felt slow - a relic of the years of shrink-wrapped software. Why did we need them for a web-downloadable or web-deployable product?
I understood right away. Even web software could reach a level of complexity where additional engineering just to release was necessary. I wanted to share my realizations with everyone!
The analogy of beer brewing hit me one afternoon and this talk came together. The first versions included the pun of Release Engi-beer-ing. But like most puns, that didn’t last long. I’ve given versions of this a few times for internal audiences at Pivotal, and then at Fountain. But this is the first time I’ve shared this publicly.
Come for the analogy, stay for the war stories and insights.