Release Engineering as a Force Multiplier

When done well, Release Engineering can be a force multiplier that enables software companies to ship software efficiently and reliably, to grow internally by hiring more engineers, to grow in the marketplace, and allow the company to compete against other above-their-weight companies. This can also make the organization a more humane place to work! Part of this is technical engineering, and part is social / human engineering -- i.e. Culture change. When done badly, larger companies with bigger financial budgets and larger staff headcount can find themselves being out-maneuvered by smaller, more nimble competitors. They can even find the entire organization at risk because they are unable to handle changing market dynamics quickly because of these same inefficiencies within their organization. To have this culture change happen, its important that everyone understands the value of, and everyone understands how they play a role in, making the organization efficient. This means RelEng needs to be clearly explained in non-Release-Engineer language, to all portions of the company. Large scale engineering change is hard. Organizational culture change is also hard. I'll describe some approaches that have, and have not, worked for me over the last 23 years of my career in Release Engineering, and how things played out in several different case studies.