Transforming to DevOps, CJ/CD: Continuous Journey Continuous Disaster?

Tonie Huizer

Transforming a team that was used to a SVN-based-big-single-repo work style and little to no automation to Azure DevOps with Git, automated build and release pipelines and a private NuGet feed and disposable databases was a bumpy ride.

In this session I will tell you about my days as team lead and the challenges I faced while introducing:

DevOps:
– The formal DevOps term and process
– Working with sprints (our 4th attempt)

Git:
– Git as version control to SVN / TFVC people
– Using branches instead of only the master
– Adapting a Git branching strategy

Environments:
– Working with isolated distributed environments
– Using branched versioned databases

Pipelines:
– Adapting a Build & Release Workflow
– Implementing naming conventions for: repos, branches, builds and releases
– The Introduction (and success) of pipelines
– Manual vs Pull Request Release
– Sharing and securing knowledge with Markdown

Migrating an existing team that is stuck in its ways, critical by nature and fed up with deadlines is an interesting journey you don’t always hear about.

But in the end…it’s a lot of patience, work and yes it’s exhausting, but completely worth it.