Release Management_ 4 Best Practices That You Should Follow

Release Management: 4 Best
Practices That You Should Follow
Everyone wants to deliver great software. But designing great software is no easy task.
You need to consider several components. Release schedules, bug resolution, user
testing, development workflows, resource allocation, IT management tools— the list is
very long.
For large and complex projects requiring ongoing feature releases, For large complex
projects with ongoing feature releases, teams need well-structured and streamlined
processes in place to help ensure the efficiency and quality are not compromised. Only
then can the product stay true to the commitment of providing great business value.
This is where release management comes in. Release management in the DevSecOps
environment combines development, operations, and security.
This guide will focus on DevSecOps best practices that can help your teams
consistently deliver quality software.

What Is the IT Release Management Process?
In the IT operations realm, release management represents a combination of workflows
and processes to develop, test, release, and deploy software to its end users.
This includes everything from planning, codebase development, testing, and all the way
up to deployment/release of the software. An efficient IT management tool is necessary
during release management.
Release management empowers production with systemic management to handle a
seemingly complex software delivery life cycle.
Release management provides production teams with an efficient system for managing
what could sometimes be a daunting software delivery lifecycle.
Additionally, a good system of release management in the DevSecOps environment
must ensure an optimal experience for the customers and align with overall business
priorities.
The fundamental objectives of release management include:
●
●
●
●
●
Risks mitigation throughout the software delivery lifecycle
Optimise, manage, track and oversee the development and release processes
Consistently meeting delivery goals and timelines
Deliver value and an relevant experience to the customer/end-user
Ensure profitability and align with business goals
Also Read : The Top Trends Influencing DevSecOps Adoption in 2022
The 4 Best Practices For IT Release Management
When it comes to the release management process, a single approach is never the
answer. Every enterprise has unique requirements, and therefore the release
management process should be tailored to meet your specific requirements.
However, there are ground principles applied to almost every organisation venturing into
software development.

Introduce measurable standards for defining success
Subjective feedbacks are ineffective for measuring the success of your release
management strategy. Instead, establish quantitative key performance indicators (KPIs)
that can be easily tracked and measured.
It can be error rates, the number of downloads, or downtime duration. Defining a
quantitative standard for success ensures all of your team members remain on the
same page.
Implement dark launch
Ready to roll out your new feature in the market? Wait! Hold back! Did you try dark
launching?
Rolling out the updated feature to a massive user in a single go can be risky.
One small glitch can ruin all the hard work and innovation you’ve put into the product.
Dark launching enables you to test new features on 1% (or a smaller percentage) of
your users instead of 100%.
Dark launching can reduce the risk in three ways:
●
●
●
Going from 0 to 100 involves an extreme risk for both DevSecOps teams and
users. But dark launching using a feature management tool enables you to
release a new functionality gradually, thus reducing the negative impacts of a
production bug.
With Dark launching, you release an updated feature to a small custom user
group. You can segregate the users based on several risk factors, such as higher
risk tolerance than other groups, etc. Thus, if the updated feature triggers an
error, you’re not only limiting the number of users exposed to it, but you’re also
restricting the effects to individuals who will be more generous than other users
about the buggy feature.
Feature flags or feature switches allow you to turn a feature “on” and “off” quickly
to contain any disaster.

Automate in a secured way
Automation, when implemented in the appropriate way, minimises human errors and
gives your team the freedom to spend more time developing innovations for high-impact
projects.
You can set a reminder or opt for an automated progressive launch with the right IT
management tool.
Ensure tracking metrics early
You can never see improvement in your release process if you don’t measure. Ensure
setting up monitoring to track your application’s performance before, during, and after
the release. These metrics can include load time, uptime, downtime, error rate,
downtime, conversions, etc.
Conclusion
DevSecOps processes embed security early in the release management phase. This
ensures that glitches are detected in the early stages and that addressing the bugs is
easier and cheaper.
Contact Us
Company Name: Enov8
Address: Level 2, 447 Broadway New York, NY 10013 USA
Email id: enquiries@enov8.com
Website: https://www.enov8.com/