AtlasCamp 2015: Confessions of an automation addict
•
1 like•867 views
Holly Cummins, IBM I've never seen a job I didn't want to automate. Sometimes it's worked out well, sometimes automation has turned a small nuisance into a big, fragile, free-time-eating monster nuisance. In this talk, I'll explore why we automate, when to automate, the hazards of automation and the - big - rewards of automation. I'm part of the team developing IBM's WebSphere Liberty application server. We've used a mix of off-the-shelf and home-rolled tools and processes to work smarter and more productively. I'll describe what we've learned as WebSphere has transitioned to DevOps and continuous delivery and why I still can't resist trying to automate all the things.
Recommended
Recommended
More Related Content
More from Atlassian
More from Atlassian (20)
Recently uploaded
Recently uploaded (20)
AtlasCamp 2015: Confessions of an automation addict
- 1. © 2013 IBM Corporation Holly Cummins @holly_cummins
- 4. @holly_cummins#automationconfessions Can that be automated? … My team
- 5. @holly_cummins#automationconfessions Holly, I give you all the worst jobs. I know you’ll automate them. ?! Why?? Alasdair Look at my cool solution!
- 6. @holly_cummins#automationconfessions [Human history has been slightly simplified.] [Timeline is not to scale.] 1764 Spinning Jenny Washing Machine 1858 1941 Electromechanical Computer Chef 2012 It’s not just me. More and more is automated.
- 7. @holly_cummins#automationconfessions So are we living the dream? Well. Not quite.
- 11. @holly_cummins#automationconfessions Automate for sustainability Automate for efficiency “Sustainable”
- 12. @holly_cummins#automationconfessions Do a task once. Do it a second time and take notes. Do it a third time, automate.
- 13. @holly_cummins#automationconfessions Scale The more of you there are, the more it is worth investing in automation
- 14. @holly_cummins#automationconfessions Treat your servers like cattle, not like pets.
- 17. @holly_cummins#automationconfessions If you care about it, automate it.
- 18. @holly_cummins#automationconfessions Automate because you care that it happens at all Why Automate?
- 19. @holly_cummins#automationconfessions Marvin • Build breaks (including test failures) should be reverted from the stream • No one wanted to be the one who did it • It didn’t happen • Solution: Automate!
- 21. @holly_cummins#automationconfessions End of iteration demos Automatic generation on story close
- 22. Automating to improve the outcome rather than to save effort: • Write the Rational Team Concert plugin (one-off) • Close the demo task (every story) • Actually do the demo (every story) • But … we get guaranteed demos now.
- 23. @holly_cummins#automationconfessions Automate because you care that it’s done right Why Automate?
- 24. @holly_cummins#automationconfessions • A computer can notice problems that a human can’t (like misspelled variable names) • We love findbugs Linting
- 25. @holly_cummins#automationconfessions Deployment • Should be easy, right? • Always one step that gets forgotten …
- 27. Why not automate? I get so mad at how much time I could save if I had more time. The automation paradox Ross Ross’s bootstraps
- 28. thanks (for everything!), xkcd.com Why not automate
- 30. The Reality Think about support. Think about robustness.
- 32. @holly_cummins#automationconfessions Rosie ate the world. (Well, my corner of it.)
- 33. @holly_cummins#automationconfessions Questions to ask before automating • Who can maintain this automation? • Who can manage this automation? • Will it be robust? What if things change? • How much will it cost?
- 34. @holly_cummins#automationconfessions Checkpoint during automation • How do I define success? • Have I got completion criteria? • Is this still worth it? • Am I still saving time?
- 36. @holly_cummins#automationconfessions Remember the bus A clever automation isn’t so clever if only one person understands it… … and they get hit by a bus.
- 38. @holly_cummins#automationconfessions Why not automate Should I automate this process… … or should I change it?
- 39. The dumbness problem • It’s dumb to automate dumb things • Automation allows you to do dumb things at a greater speed
- 41. @holly_cummins#automationconfessions Ask questions before automatically automating things which don’t actually need to be done.
- 42. Why not automate Computers don’t always get it right.
- 44. @holly_cummins#automationconfessions How to automate It depends. What are you automating?
- 45. What can we automate? • Machine configuration • Deployments • Test environments • ….
- 46. What can we automate?
- 47. What can we automate? Formatting: the most controversial thing one can automate.
- 48. What can we automate? Copyright statements Maybe.
- 50. @holly_cummins#automationconfessions Tools(an incomplete list) • Shell scripts • sed
- 51. @holly_cummins#automationconfessions • Scripting • python • ruby Tools(still an incomplete list)
- 52. @holly_cummins#automationconfessions Tools(still an incomplete list) • Jenkins, Bamboo, or Rational Team Concert builds • Chef or Puppet • Docker, VMWare, and Vagrant images
- 53. @holly_cummins#automationconfessions Tools(still an incomplete list) An ant. Not a reindeer. Maven Gradle Plugins Tasks
- 54. @holly_cummins#automationconfessions Tools(still an incomplete list) • Eclipse plugins
- 55. @holly_cummins#automationconfessions Tools(still an incomplete list) • Web applications • If a UI is involved, proceed with caution
- 56. @holly_cummins#automationconfessions It doesn’t have to be fancy
- 57. @holly_cummins#automationconfessions Rolling your own • Beware not-invented-here • Are you sure no one else has done this? • If not, maybe there’s a good reason? • Beware fun • But do innovate (and have fun)
- 58. @holly_cummins#automationconfessions Finally … Aren’t we lucky to have careers where automation is not just allowed, but encouraged?