Why No Discussion on Release Management?

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I have noticed less and less talk about Release Management and Deployment Management over the years.

I think part of the reason is it gets lumped into CI/CD. But, even CI/CD follows a Deployment process.

Both, Release and Deployment, are important to get right.

ITIL4 separates them into separate practices while the previous ITIL versions had them together.

Release Management is now a Service Management practice while Deployment Management is a Technical Management practice. The reason for separating them is the same reason why Deployment is in Technical Management, so much (e.g., CI/CD) is enabled via technology.

The reason we need to discuss these two more is two-fold:
1) Their success or failure impacts other practices/processes
2) Both, but especially Release, are performed with feedback from stakeholders and valuable for value co-creation.

Release integrates with Change, CMDB/Configuration, Knowledge, and much more.

Let me know if your organization needs to improve in Release Management or Deployment Management.

It Could Happen To You; Be Prepared

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The Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp outages were the topic of many conversations and LinkedIn posts yesterday.

There are three takeaways from the outage that every organization should learn from:

1. Most outages are from a change. Being a global organization, there is no best time, but Monday is always the worst day. A few months ago, Microsoft had two bad changes in as many weeks, impacting Outlook and Teams. It can happen to the biggest of organizations.

2. The cost of the outage could reach billions of dollars. It’s important to quantify the cost of the outage. Investing in better service management and continuity is cheaper and limits the threat and impact of such an outage.

3. Every organization that relies heavily on WhatsApp, Slack, etc for internal communications MUST include it in their Business Continuity program and testing.

Life Stressors

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It is rarely the WHAT that stresses us out.

It’s almost always the WHO.

Control the WHO in your life.

This simple principle is why many people leave organizations because of bad bosses and culture.

Force Multipliers

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In every walk of life, there are force multipliers that help normal things become extra effective.

In the world of technology, these are even more important.

In technology, we should be focused on capabilities that exponentially help stakeholders create outcomes. Stated differently, the technology we provide should help users and consumers do their respective jobs much better with that solution compared to a different one.

If not, there is no reason to implement said technology.

Think of the real-world example of high-speed internet. Sure, you can do things manually or with your phone. But, high-speed internet allows you to do simple tasks at a greater speed, thus, justifying the cost.

The same should be true for our technology services.

Focus on the things that create the greatest value.