DevOps Release Management : Top 7 Best Practices of DevOps Release Management

With the global market-facing severe competition, practices like DevOps have become a norm. It promotes unison between operations and development, facilitating quick and reliable software deployment. While this speed is a great asset, it can also add pressure on release management.

On the other hand, it also brings collaboration and transparency to streamline the process. With such perks, more organizations are adopting DevOps-based release management processes as the demand for the practice increases, and its understanding becomes more critical.

That is why here is everything businesses should know about DevOps Release Management.

What is Release Management?

Understanding release management before learning the suggested practices is the ideal starting point. Release management refers to overseeing the planning, managing, and scheduling of software builds or releases. The process spans from software development, testing to release across multiple ecosystems. 

With software and their development process is getting more prevalent, the process requires more flexibility and expertise. Moreover, as the number of complex apps and platforms surges, procedures like release management are becoming necessary. It helps organizations stay focused on core activities without losing any efficiency.

Release management in DevOps can help with physical products, downloading websites or servers, or updating a web app. 

The Need for Release Management

Deploying software, updates, or IT services is sophisticated. Thus, the primary objective of release management is to simplify the core functions during the deployment. In addition, it allows businesses to freely divert their resources, helping them to keep up with the changing IT environment.

Release management ensures that the business is only deploying tested components and services into the production process. Thus, it facilitates utmost security and reliability, maintaining optimal product quality. Moreover, it renders perks like:

• Quick deployment of new features and variations.
• Simplified scheduling of deployment operations.
• Minimized risk of unauthorized deployment.
• Guarantee of new services meeting the intended standards.
• Precise data sharing with customers and team.

Best Practices by DevOps Release Management  

As DevOps-based release management the future of software development and IT operations, businesses must find the best practices to integrate it. Here are a few tips that should be followed by every business for a seamless release management process:

Fix Defined Goals

Knowing the end goal is the initial step in most business strategies, and DevOps Release Management is one of them. It helps businesses understand when to stop and whether the stopping point meets the pre-defined standards. It applies to both the testing and releasing part, facilitating consistency throughout the process.

Moreover, businesses cannot compromise when establishing the goals and the required standards. Strictly following guidelines to reach a goal creates space for learning from errors. The more methods organizations implement, the better strategies they formulate.

Every concerned individual, be it quality supervisors, release managers, or project managers, must define the standards. Until the firm has unified success metrics, it cannot achieve the desired product quality.

Use Automation Whenever Possible

It goes without saying that automating boorish or repetitive activities can render impeccable results. It improves overall productivity while allowing experts to divert resources into specific tasks. It may be IT operations, QA, or software development; automation can help organizations facilitate precision and efficiency. By allowing the team to focus on strategizing, businesses can sustain optimal product quality without a hitch.

Keep the Focus on Team Building

Even if businesses facilitate automation in multiple spaces, keeping the focus on the team is pivotal. At the end of the day, automated means cannot keep up with changing customer needs. The best way to find the best development, testing, and deployment strategies is to work on the team.

Do not refrain from integration automation, but incorporate it only to boost productivity. The fewer errors the team makes, the higher their morale gets. It will help the organization sustain its effectiveness and reliability in the long run.

Integrate Environment as a Service

Release management in DevOps offers multiple automation opportunities, and EaaS is one of them. Using Environment as a Service facilitates impeccable collaboration on activities the business need. Moreover, the management can scale the prospects, which are not needed.  

Optimize the Staging Environment

A successful release management process requires gradually upgrading the staging environment. Additionally, businesses can keep the staging framework close to the production mechanism. For example, it may be QA or product owners should go through the testing or staging space to assess issues with new product deployments.

Finding issues within production or deployment stages is simple as long as the staging ecosystem is closely maintained to production. The better the staging framework is designed, the reduced customer impact it will impose. Moreover, it helps DevOps teams make sure the releases meet customer expectations seamlessly.

Opt for Least User Impact

Besides working on the staging environment, businesses can also opt for other methods. But, again, the goal is to reduce the user impact and eliminate downtime for better testing before the final deployment.

Skilled release managers constantly work towards these goals and find the best approaches. Some options they can avail of our instant collaborative alerts and proactive monitoring to recognize malfunctions early. 

Moreover, merging the approach with a collective issue management plan can eliminate the issues, facilitating an efficient release.

Aim for a Streamlined CICD Pipeline

Another way to achieve effective DevOps release management best practices is via a streamlined CICD pipeline. It starts with preponing the automation, testing, and quality assurance processes during the development process. 

It identifies issues early on and reduces time spent during feedback collection, helping the delivery pipeline’s growth. The more a business integrates testing with development, the better it can sustain a seamless CICD pipeline.

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Closing Thoughts

Release management in DevOps has utmost significance in the modern market. That is why businesses must know the process by heart. Although the process renders quick growth and deployment, it can add pressure on the team.

However, several tips can eliminate the issues, leaving space for only a quick release process. The article has mentioned multiple tips to help businesses conduct seamless DevOps release management. And also enroll for DevOps Course and know these practices create room for new strategies and better results. So, implement the recommendations and facilitate innovation throughout your organization.