You will find there are many different definitions for, and variations of, “Continuous Delivery” out there. One key take away is that there is no “one size fits” all type of strategy and approach. There are many concepts and components that apply, and some that won’t apply based on a company’s culture. Introducing the concept of Continuous Delivery brings change to people, process and technology. Of the three, process and technology are easiest to change, so the transition is often tackled first. The people aspect of this type of change is very important. Communicating goals, managing expectations, and resolving conflicts are of the utmost importance. You need buy-in from various stakeholders across technology and business departments. This session will walk through the process that Choice Hotels has taken to communicate, evangelize, and build a continuous delivery methodology which will repeatedly, consistently and rapidly deploy infrastructure and applications that are stable, scalable and secure across development and production environments.

1. The Journey Towards Continuous Deployment

2. What is this talk about?
“The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single
step.” – Lao Tzu
Page 1
People
Process
Technology
| The Journey towards Continuous Deployment | November 16, 2016
Continuous
Integration/Delivery/Deploymen
t

3. Page 2
Audience
Participation!!!| The Journey towards Continuous Deployment | November 16, 2016

4. What Questions Should
You Ask First?
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5. Like any other journey…
• Where do you want to go?
• Why do you want to go?
• Who will be going with you?
• When do you want to go?
• How much time do you have?
• How much will you need to plan?
• How will you record your progression?
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• What can you learn from other trips?
• How much money will you need?
• Where will you get the money?
• What things do you have?
• What things will you need?
• What challenges might you face?
• Will the journey be worth it?

6. Identify the Destination
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7. Software Solution Delivery – IT Concerns
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• Inconsistent and manual deployment process
• Formal & gated change control process
• Inconsistent or lack of automated testing
• Unchecked code quality analysis
• No deployment process measurements
• Requests for infrastructure can take weeks
• Inconsistent and non-standard VM configurations

8. Software Solution Delivery – Business Drivers
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• Deliver solutions faster to market
• Increase quality of solutions
• Reduce risk of failure
• Reduce cost of solution delivery
• Realize competitive advantage
• Uninterrupted customer experience
New
Feature
Idea
???
Profit!!!

9. Get There With People
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10. Take it on the road and always be closing…
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Developers
Quality Assurance
Management
Product Owners
On-Premise Infrastructure
Information Security
Change Advisory Board
Executives
System Administrators
Operations
Help Desk
Cloud Infrastructure
Architects
Monitoring and Performance

11. Get There With Process
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12. What are the differences between Continuous Integration, Delivery
and Deployment?
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13. What are the differences between Continuous Integration, Delivery
and Deployment?
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14. What are the differences between Continuous Integration, Delivery
and Deployment?
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15. Get There With Technology
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16. A few things you will need
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• Source code repository
• Automation workflow engine
• Software defined infrastructure
• Configuration management
• Monitoring tools
• DevOps minded contributors
Image provided from: http://www.e-zest.net/the-devops-philosophy
All product names, logos, and brands are property of their respective owners. All company,
product and service names used here are for identification purposes only. Use of these
names, logos, and brands does not imply endorsement.

17. Closing remarks…
• There is no “one size fits all” type of solution, it is a continuous evolution
• Top down approach typically has better success than bottom up
• Technology and process can get you far, but without people across the
organization on board, failure is most likely guaranteed
• Do not attempt to “boil the ocean”. Start with an attainable, realistic and
measureable goal
• Be transparent and evangelize the progress and outcomes of the work
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18. A little about Choice Hotels…
• Founded in 1939 (77 years ago!)
• 1,150 Employees (~500 in IT)
• Publicly traded (CHH)
• $859.9 million in revenue (2015)
• $7+ billion flows through reservation system each year
• Franchise model (Economy, Mid-Scale, Upscale)
• Vacation Rentals
• 6,400+ Hotels (500,000+ rooms)
• 35+ Countries
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careers.choicehotels.co
m

19. Thank You!
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www.choicehotels.com
brian.mericle@choicehotels.com
@bpmericle
https://www.linkedin.com/in/brianpmericle