How to Speed Up Your Deployments

Joel Zamboni

5 min Read · December 6, 2022

Root Cause

Many factors can contribute to the problem when dealing with slow deployment times. Identifying the root cause of the delays is paramount so you can focus on fixing that specific issue. Remember, based on the Pareto Principle, you must work on 20% of the problems to have an 80% improvement in deployment times. In many cases, slow deployments are due to a lack of automation. Automating your deployment process can help eliminate errors and speed up the overall process. Other common causes of slow deployments include:

  • Lack of communication between development and operations teams
  • Manual processes
  • Lack of testing

All of these factors can contribute to delays in getting code deployed. By addressing these issues, you can start to speed up your deployments.

Automation Is Key

One of the best ways to speed up your deployments is to automate as much of the process as possible. Automation doesn’t have to be a vast, complicated undertaking. Many simple automation tasks can make a big difference in deploying your code. Automating your deployments can help you avoid errors, save time, and increase efficiency.

Automation is an essential part of DevOps, which is a practice that emphasizes collaboration between development and operations teams. When everyone works together toward a common goal (deploying high-quality code) and uses the same tools and processes, deployments can happen much faster.

You can start by using a script to automate the deployment of a service, which engineers can do in a few minutes.

Continuous Deployment

Another way to speed up your deployment process is to practice continuous deployment. Continuous deployment is a practice in which code changes are automatically pushed to production as soon as they’re ready. This eliminates the need for manual processes and allows you to get new features and products to market faster.

Continuous deployment requires a high level of automation and collaboration between teams. But the benefits are clear: faster deployments, fewer errors, and happier customers.

Create a Flow

As part of any deployment workflow, you should consider having all the parts connected in a shared and well-understood document where all the responsible parties can see how their work impacts the greater goal. This will help everyone stay on the same page and avoid misunderstandings that can lead to delays.

Testing (Loop)

It’s essential to test your workflow code before you deploy it. Testing helps ensure that your code is working as expected. Automated tests can save you time and help you avoid errors.

By running tests on your code pipeline, you can catch performance issues and improve in each interaction. It is crucial to create logs and parameters so you can measure the timing of each execution, understand the details, and fix any latency or other issues that make it hard to deploy.

Communication is Critical

Another important factor in speeding up your deployments is communication between developers and operations. Good communication between development and operations teams can help avoid misunderstandings and errors. It’s essential to clearly understand who is responsible for what so everyone knows what needs to be done. When everyone is on the same page, deployments can happen much faster.

Infrastructure as Code

There are many benefits to using infrastructure as code (IaC). IaC is a way of managing and provisioning infrastructure using code instead of manual processes. This approach can help you speed up your deployments, avoid errors, and manage your infrastructure more effectively. IaC is an essential part of DevOps and is often used in conjunction.

Shared Ownership

Only one person should not own the process of sending an application to production. It is part of the resources of the company. Shared ownership is a crucial principle of DevOps. It means that everyone on the team is responsible for the success of the deployment process. This helps avoid silos and ensures everyone works together toward the common goal.

All Roads Lead to DevOps

In the end, practicing DevOps is the best way to speed up your deployments. DevOps is a culture and practice emphasizing collaboration between development and operations teams. Automation, continuous deployment, and shared ownership are all essential parts of DevOps.

By adopting these practices, you can achieve faster deployments, fewer errors, and happier customers.

Conclusion

There are many ways to speed up your deployments. Automation, continuous deployment, and shared ownership are all essential. Adopting a DevOps culture is the best way to achieve faster deployments and fewer errors.

While DevOps services can be implemented internally, approximately 75% of organizations fail to adopt the framework. This is primarily due to a lack of the necessary knowledge associated with DevOps transformation.

That is why it’s vital to have experts on your side. Optimizing your process with the help of experts can save time and resources that would otherwise be spent on trial and error. In addition, a DevOps expert can help identify areas where your process can be improved, making it more efficient and effective. Ultimately, this will save you money by helping you avoid costly mistakes and improving your overall productivity. Webera has the experience, knowledge, and tools to help you implement DevOps successfully. Contact us today to learn more