Introduction

Greetings, thanks for checking out my blog...

I've been doing release management for over 20 years now, and I thought the time has come to talk about it a little. That's what this blog will be about.

Release management is one of those skunk disciplines that sneak up on you. Nobody really takes it seriously until you start crumbling under the load and wondering why something so simple has suddenly become a nightmare.

It seemed so simple at first - after all, everyone can run a compiler or an IDE and generate your executables and post them someplace, right?

Discussions tend follow the bike shed pattern, and everyone will be happy to slap paint on it.

Little do they realize that there's a nuclear missile silo hiding beneath. As your project grows, your build suddenly crumbles, your branches multiply, your merges become hell. In other words you suddenly uncovered the nuclear missile silo hiding under your bike shed.

My hope is that I can contribute some insights and spark discussions over best practices which stood the test of time.