Given at Dallas Drupal Days. In this presentation, the Austin team will describe the innovative solutions, daily workflow, performance challenges, necessary customizations, testing scheme, and third-party vendor integration that delivers The Economist Online to millions of users.

1. The Economist (Tech)
Diana Montalion Dupuis : @dianadupuis
diana@fourkitchens.com
previously: @mooncougar
Aaron Forsander : @aaronforsander
forsander@fourkitchens.com
Robert Ristroph : @robgr robert@fourkitchens.com
Four Kitchens : @fourkitchens

2. The Economist
Dallas Drupal Days 2011

3. The Economist
• First published in September 1843 to take part
in a "severe contest between intelligence, which
presses forward, and an unworthy, timid ignorance
obstructing our progress."
Dallas Drupal Days 2011

4. The Economist
• First published in September 1843 to take part
in a "severe contest between intelligence, which
presses forward, and an unworthy, timid ignorance
obstructing our progress."
• In May 2011 The Economist online had
6,421,376 unique visitors and 32,565,298 page
views worldwide
Dallas Drupal Days 2011

5. The Economist
• First published in September 1843 to take part
in a "severe contest between intelligence, which
presses forward, and an unworthy, timid ignorance
obstructing our progress."
• In May 2011 The Economist online had
6,421,376 unique visitors and 32,565,298 page
views worldwide
• iPhone and iPad app download: 2 million +
Dallas Drupal Days 2011

6. Dallas Drupal Days 2011

7. The Development Team

8. The Development Team
• London, New York, Austin

9. The Development Team
• London, New York, Austin
• How we communicate

10. The Development Team
• London, New York, Austin
• How we communicate
• Roles

11. The Development Team
• London, New York, Austin
• How we communicate
• Roles
• Non-dev team members

12. Agile

13. Agile
• Rituals

14. Agile
• Rituals
• High-tech scrum tools (ie google docs)

15. Agile
• Rituals
• High-tech scrum tools (ie google docs)
• Product owners and stakeholders

17. Dev Ops

18. Dev Ops
• Branching

19. Dev Ops
• Branching
• Code reviews

20. Dev Ops
• Branching
• Code reviews
• Trunk -> Stage -> Live

21. Dev Ops
• Branching
• Code reviews
• Trunk -> Stage -> Live
• Testing

22. Testing

23. Testing
• Selenium

24. Testing
• Selenium
• SimpleTests

25. Testing
• Selenium
• SimpleTests
• Hand testing in all environments

26. Testing
• Selenium
• SimpleTests
• Hand testing in all environments
• Team sign off before each release

27. Vendor Branching

28. Vendor Branching
• Each contributed module has a vendor branch

29. Vendor Branching
• Each contributed module has a vendor branch
• Changes are made to the code base, not the
module

30. Vendor Branching
• Each contributed module has a vendor branch
• Changes are made to the code base, not the
module
• Upgrades happen in the vendor branch and are
merged into the code base

33. Jenkins

34. Jenkins
• Hudson / Jenkins

35. Jenkins
• Hudson / Jenkins
• Get out of cron

36. Jenkins
• Hudson / Jenkins
• Get out of cron
• Custom drush commands

37. Jenkins
• Hudson / Jenkins
• Get out of cron
• Custom drush commands
• Examples of tasks running in Hudkins

38. Performance

39. Performance
• Caching

40. Performance
• Caching
• Database

41. Performance
• Caching
• Database
• Custom caching modules

42. Migration

43. Migration
• Continual integration

44. Migration
• Continual integration
• Push to pull the plug

45. Migration
• Continual integration
• Push to pull the plug
• Where we are now

47. Thank You!