Deploying your application whenever you want is easy. Everyone does it nowadays. And that works great when you have a small group of people responsible for an application. But what if you have several teams working on the same application? What if you have almost 80 people committing more than 30 times a day? Can you face the challenge of deploying that application as often as you wish and succeed in keeping it stable? In this talk we will walk the journey from a conservative four week release cycle to full autonomy. What are the challenges you will face and how to tackled them.

1. Taming a beastTaming a beast
AmsterdamPHP April MeetupAmsterdamPHP April Meetup
@MikeChernev@MikeChernev

2. Addicted to technology
Reads manga
Star Wars fan
Struggles to play the guitar
@MikeChernev@MikeChernev
> whoami> whoami

4. AgendaAgenda
1. Perspective1. Perspective
2. define: beast2. define: beast
3. Why not3. Why not slayslay it?it?
4. Taming the beast4. Taming the beast
5. Lessons learnt5. Lessons learnt

5. > whois bol.com> whois bol.com

6. bol.com ~ 18 years agobol.com ~ 18 years ago
One applicationOne application
One deploymentOne deployment

7. bol.com ~ 10 years agobol.com ~ 10 years ago
4 weeks
Time
Release cycleRelease cycle

8. bol.com ~ 5 years agobol.com ~ 5 years ago
4 weeks
Time
Release cycleRelease cycle

9. bol.com ~ 2 years agobol.com ~ 2 years ago
4 weeks
Time
Release cycleRelease cycle

11. Stuck in the past
Stuck in the past

12. bol.com ~ 2 years agobol.com ~ 2 years ago
2 weeks
Time
Release cycleRelease cycle
2 weeks

13. AgendaAgenda
1. Perspective1. Perspective
2. define: beast2. define: beast
3. Why not3. Why not slayslay it?it?
4. Taming the beast4. Taming the beast
5. Lessons learnt5. Lessons learnt

14. define: beastdefine: beast
Large monolithLarge monolith
++
Legacy systemLegacy system
++
UnmanageableUnmanageable
==
BeastBeast

16. Slow release cycleSlow release cycle
= =
slow progressslow progress

17. AgendaAgenda
1. Perspective1. Perspective
2. define: beast2. define: beast
3. Why not3. Why not slayslay it?it?
4. Taming the beast4. Taming the beast
5. Lessons learnt5. Lessons learnt

18. AgendaAgenda
1. Perspective1. Perspective
2. define: beast2. define: beast
3. Why not3. Why not slayslay it?it?
4. Taming the beast4. Taming the beast
5. Lessons learnt5. Lessons learnt

19. How to tame a beast?How to tame a beast?
Through being able to change it at a fast andThrough being able to change it at a fast and
stable pacestable pace

20. Continuous DeliveryContinuous Delivery

21. Continuous Delivery (CD)Continuous Delivery (CD)
“Continuous Delivery is a software development“Continuous Delivery is a software development
discipline where you build software in such a waydiscipline where you build software in such a way
that the software can be released to production atthat the software can be released to production at
any time.”any time.”[1][1]
Martin Fowler

23. Problems with CDProblems with CD

24. Problems with CDProblems with CD
"Problems, causes and solutions when adopting"Problems, causes and solutions when adopting
continuous delivery—A systematic literature review."continuous delivery—A systematic literature review."
Laukkanen, Eero, Juha Itkonen, and Casper Lassenius.Laukkanen, Eero, Juha Itkonen, and Casper Lassenius.
Information and Software Technology 82 (2017): 55-79.Information and Software Technology 82 (2017): 55-79. [2][2]

26. Problems with CDProblems with CD
Build design Complex build, inflexible build
System design System modularization, unsuitable architecture, internal
dependencies, database schema changes
Integration Large commits, merge conflicts, broken build, work blockage,
long-running branches, broken development flow, slow integration
approval
Testing Ambiguous test result, flaky tests, time-consuming testing,
hardware testing, multi-platform testing, UI testing, untestable code,
problematic deployment, complex testing
Release customer data preservation, documentation, feature discovery,
marketing, more deployed bugs, third party integration, users do not
like updates, deployment downtime
Human and
organizational
Lack of discipline, lack of motivation, lack of experience, more
pressure, changing roles, team coordination, organizational
structure
Resource Effort, insufficient hardware resources, network latencies

27. Problems with CDProblems with CD (for our application) (for our application)
Build design -
System design -
Integration Merge conflicts, work blockage, long-running branches
Testing Flaky tests, time-consuming testing, problematic deployment
Release Feature discovery
Human and
organizational
Lack of discipline, lack of motivation, lack of experience
Resource -

28. Flaky Tests, Time-consuming testingFlaky Tests, Time-consuming testing
ProblemProblem

29. Flaky Tests, Time-consuming testingFlaky Tests, Time-consuming testing
SolutionSolution

30. Flaky Tests, Time-consuming testingFlaky Tests, Time-consuming testing
ResultResult

31. Lack of discipline, lack of motivation, lack of experienceLack of discipline, lack of motivation, lack of experience
ProblemProblem

32. Lack of discipline, lack of motivation, lack of experienceLack of discipline, lack of motivation, lack of experience
SolutionSolution

33. Lack of discipline, lack of motivation, lack of experienceLack of discipline, lack of motivation, lack of experience
ResultResult

34. Long running branches, merge conflicts, work blockageLong running branches, merge conflicts, work blockage
ProblemProblem

35. Long running branches, merge conflicts, work blockageLong running branches, merge conflicts, work blockage
SolutionSolution

36. Long running branches, merge conflicts, work blockageLong running branches, merge conflicts, work blockage
ResultResult

37. Feature discovery, team coordination, problematic deploymentsFeature discovery, team coordination, problematic deployments
ProblemProblem

38. Feature discovery, team coordination, problematic deploymentsFeature discovery, team coordination, problematic deployments
SolutionSolution

39. Feature discovery, team coordination, problematic deploymentsFeature discovery, team coordination, problematic deployments
ResultResult

41. Lack of discipline, lack of motivation, lack of experienceLack of discipline, lack of motivation, lack of experience
ProblemProblem

42. ResultsResults
30 releases instead of 430 releases instead of 4
446 features released446 features released
TTL 4 days vs 1.5 weeksTTL 4 days vs 1.5 weeks

43. AgendaAgenda
1. Perspective1. Perspective
2. define: beast2. define: beast
3. Why not3. Why not slayslay it?it?
4. Taming the beast4. Taming the beast
4a. A look into the future4a. A look into the future
5. Lessons learnt5. Lessons learnt

44. What's next?What's next?
“The past is always tense,“The past is always tense,
the future perfect.”the future perfect.”
Zadie Smith Zadie Smith

45. What's next?What's next?
"Rapid release "Rapid release
at massive scale"at massive scale"[3][3]
[3] [4] [5][4]

46. Feature togglesFeature toggles
““Feature Toggles Feature Toggles
(aka Feature Flags)(aka Feature Flags)””[6][6]
Martin Fowler

47. AgendaAgenda
1. Perspective1. Perspective
2. define: beast2. define: beast
3. Why not3. Why not slayslay it?it?
4. Taming the beast4. Taming the beast
5. Lessons learnt5. Lessons learnt

48. Lessons learntLessons learnt
Stable and reliable tests suiteStable and reliable tests suite
Stable and reliable tests suiteStable and reliable tests suite
Proper branching strategyProper branching strategy
Visibility on your pipelineVisibility on your pipeline
Effective way of communicatingEffective way of communicating

49. TeamTeam

50. Thank you!Thank you!
Questions?Questions?

51. ReferencesReferences
[1] https://martinfowler.com/bliki/ContinuousDelivery.html
[2] https://doi.org/10.1016/j.infsof.2016.10.001
[3] https://code.facebook.com/posts/270314900139291/rapid-
release-at-massive-scale
[4] https://blog.launchdarkly.com/toggle-talk-with-josh-wills/
[5] https://blogs.dropbox.com/tech/2017/03/introducing-
stormcrow
[6] https://martinfowler.com/articles/feature-toggles.html