Design – Build – Run: Applied Practices and Principles for Production-Ready Software Development

Introduction

Dear reader, thank you for choosing this book and welcome to Design – Build – Run: Applied Practices and Principles for Production-Ready Software Development. Software construction is a complicated process. It is enjoyable, but it is also very hard work, from start to finish. It invariably involves working very long hours (usually weekends), attending countless meetings and discussions, and rushing to meet the deadlines. In fact, the same goes for writing a book. You do it, however, because you believe in it. You're creating something new, and that's exciting. It is also very challenging but that just fuels our desire to get it done, get it done right, and get it right the first time. In my opinion there's simply nothing better than seeing a system you've worked on go-live. Of course, afterwards you always look back and think how you could have done it better, and that's what makes you advance as individuals and us as an industry overall.

I'm not taking anything away from the great achievement of getting a software system live, but going live is not an indication that the project was a true success. The fact is that some systems still go-live when they're not entirely fit for purpose. Some may not work functionally or have all the required functionality. Some may not work technically. They may failover frequently, or they may be slow or difficult to use, support, and/or maintain. In a lot of cases, projects go-live after experiencing huge delays and massive budget ...