Deploying software changes is a crucial part of software project management, but it can also be a source of disruption, risk, and frustration for users and developers alike. How can you minimize the impact of software changes on your project's performance, quality, and user satisfaction? Here are some tips to help you deploy software changes with minimal disruption.
Before you deploy any software change, you need to have a clear plan and communicate it to all the stakeholders involved. A plan should include the scope, purpose, schedule, and expected outcomes of the change, as well as the roles and responsibilities of the team members. Communication should be frequent, transparent, and consistent, and should address the benefits, risks, and contingencies of the change. You should also solicit feedback and input from the users and clients, and incorporate their needs and preferences into your plan.
Discuss and plan release with your stakeholders. Avoid peak time, to reduce impact on customers, Announce change internally well in advance to long list of people who might be affected. (Somebody may come back to you and explain why it is not good day/time).
Before you release any software change to the production environment, you need to test and validate it thoroughly. Testing should cover the functionality, usability, compatibility, security, and performance of the change, as well as its integration with the existing system and other components. Validation should ensure that the change meets the requirements and expectations of the users and clients, and that it does not introduce any errors, bugs, or vulnerabilities. You should also document and report the results of the testing and validation, and fix any issues or defects before deployment.
Software should always be well tested. If it affect many users and/or has big financial impact, it should be tested very very carefully (including performance testing).
Depending on the nature, size, and urgency of the software change, you need to choose a suitable deployment strategy that minimizes disruption and maximizes efficiency. A big bang strategy involves deploying the change to all users and servers at once, without any intermediate stages or backups. This is fast and simple, but carries a high risk of failure and downtime. Alternatively, a phased strategy deploys the change to a subset of users and servers at a time, gradually expanding coverage until the change is fully implemented. This is safer and more controlled, but takes longer and requires more resources. Finally, a blue-green strategy deploys the change to a parallel environment that runs alongside the current one, switching traffic between them once the change is verified. This is reliable and flexible, but requires more infrastructure and testing.
Big bang - requires very good plan and strong implementation team. Backups and realistic back out plan are must. Night hours are preferrable, if you can agree such timing with teams involved. Phased - recommended if you can do it that way. Often, it won't be possible since business will require that change is rolled out to all customers. Blue-Green is the best one. It is not easy to get financing and set up such systems, but worth trying to talk to CIO.
After you deploy the software change, you need to monitor and evaluate its performance, quality, and user satisfaction. Monitoring should involve collecting and analyzing data on the usage, behavior, feedback, and issues of the change, as well as its impact on the system and the project. Evaluation should involve comparing the actual outcomes of the change with the expected ones, and identifying the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats of the change. You should also document and report the findings of the monitoring and evaluation, and implement any improvements or corrections as needed.
Warn call centre manager before change and check regularly with her/him in days after implementation They'll be the first one to get feedback from customers if something is wrong.
Finally, you need to learn from the experience of deploying the software change, and improve your skills and processes for future changes. Learning should involve reflecting on the successes, failures, and lessons of the change, and sharing them with the team and the stakeholders. Improving should involve updating your best practices, standards, and tools for software change management, and applying them to the next change. You should also celebrate and appreciate the efforts and achievements of the team and the users, and foster a culture of continuous improvement and innovation.
Wait a bit after implementation to see that has nothing crashed. Then send mail to senior management and stakeholders informing them about change and thank members of all teams involved. Have a drink after work with team. ??
In my experience, the smaller change is, the easier it can be applied to a live product. So, it is crucial to plan the changes to be as small as technically practicable. If you have an automated testing framework in place, the cost of running tests on every, even the slightest, change is neglectable and you can afford to have very small iterations.