Separate environments
One place to develop, another to test and the production one. Every change is seen working outside production before a customer uses it.
DevOps and continuous deployment
Shipping a new version stops being the tensest day of the month
We build the path every change travels: an environment to test in, a deployment that runs on its own, a rollback ready in case something goes wrong, and monitoring that alerts you. That way updating stops depending on one late night, one set of nerves and one person.
Separate environments to test in before shipping
Deployment run by a machine, not by hand
A rollback prepared before you need it
The breaking point
Every update breaks something, and nobody wants to be the one who ships it
It isn't a lack of care from the team: it's that the path for changes was never built. When shipping is a manual procedure that lives in someone's head, an error isn't a remote possibility, it's the norm.
01
"Every time we update, something breaks"
One thing gets fixed and another falls over, because the change was tested in the wrong place or wasn't tested at all. In the end the team stops shipping, and the improvements pile up without going out.
02
"Deploying depends on one single person"
There's someone who knows the exact order of the steps. If they're on holiday, sick or they leave the company, the operation is left unable to update its own software.
03
Nobody knows for certain which version is live
Files were uploaded by hand, something was patched live, something was tested on a Friday. With no record of what was shipped and when, returning the system to a state that worked is guesswork.
How we work
We turn deployment into a procedure anyone can run
The idea is simple and old: if a step repeats, a machine does it. What automation brings isn't speed, it's that the result is the same every time and that it can be undone.
Automated deployment
A single command or a single approval ships the version: it installs, migrates the database, restarts and checks that the service responded. No steps from memory.
Rollback and monitoring
The previous state is kept and can be restored. And once the new version is live, monitoring watches that it keeps responding.
This is one piece of operations and support: the server everything lives on is covered by managed IT services, and if what's missing is the system itself, that's software development.
What's covered
The four pieces of the path a change travels
When one of these four is missing, the system doesn't break the day you set it up: it breaks the day you ship in a hurry.
Continuous integration
Every change is built and run through the automated tests before anyone thinks about shipping it.
Staging environment
A copy of the system where the business can see what's new and sign off on it without touching the live operation.
Deployment without taking the service down
The new version comes in while the previous one keeps serving, and the change completes when the new one responds correctly.
A tested rollback
Undoing isn't improvised in an emergency: the procedure is written down and has been run before it was needed.
How we come in
We start by looking at how you ship today, not by changing it all at once
Nobody stops their operation to set up a new deployment. It's done in parallel, in parts, and the team starts using it as each piece is ready.
1
We review the current path
Who ships, with which steps, where it gets tested and what happened the last time something went wrong. The real gaps come out of that.
2
We set up environments and automation
First the environment to test in, then the automated deployment and the rollback. Each piece is broken in by shipping something small.
3
We leave it documented or we run it
Your team can keep the written procedure, or we can stay in charge of the deployments. Either option is agreed in writing.
In the diagnostic we review your current deployment and tell you what can be automated first. Book a free assessment.
Fit
When something else suits you better
You have a site that barely changes
If you ship once a year, building this whole path doesn't pay for itself. What you need is backups and someone to attend when it's needed.
You're looking for someone to certify a methodology
We don't sell maturity audits or certifications. We set up the deployment and leave it working; if you need a certified framework, that's another vendor.
Questions
What people ask us before we touch the deployment
Do we have to change server or cloud provider?
Almost never. The automated deployment is built on top of what you already have. If the current server is what's preventing automation, we say so in the diagnostic and that gets decided separately.
Does this work if our software was built by another vendor?
Yes, and it's the usual case. What we need is access to the code and to the server. First we review what's there, and out of that review comes what can be automated as it is.
Are you going to stop the operation while you set it up?
No. The staging environment and the automation are built alongside what's running. The change of procedure is broken in with a small, controlled release.
What happens if a version goes wrong after it ships?
The previous state is restored with the rollback procedure, which is tested before it's needed. How long it takes depends on the system: that gets measured in your case and put in writing in the proposal, we don't publish it as a generic figure.
Do we end up dependent on you?
No. The infrastructure accounts and the code are yours, and the procedure stays documented in your repository. If you leave one day, your team can keep shipping without us.
Do you work with the tools we already use?
Yes, as long as they do the job. We'd rather use what your team already knows than introduce a new tool nobody wants to maintain.
Next step
Tell us how you ship today and what broke last time
With those two answers you can already see where the risk is and what's worth automating first. No strings attached.
Prefer to write to us? Tell us what you need.