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

12.4. Summary

The application maintenance functions are very similar to the development functions. Members of the application maintenance team may or may not have been involved in the project; therefore, it is vitally important that the application maintenance team fully understand the application and the processes required to update it, fully test it, and include everything in a release. The Developer's Guide is a useful tool to ensure the application maintenance team operates smoothly and efficiently. If it's good enough for the core development team to follow, it should be good enough for the application maintenance team. The recommended approach is to think "out-of-the-box," starting with the end goal and working backwards.

The following are the key points to take away from this chapter:

• Application maintenance is software development. While the system is still under construction, the development team essentially performs the same activities and functions as the application maintenance team. The key activities discussed included:

  • Defect analysis and fix

  • Application enhancements and changes

  • Release and configuration management

• The application maintenance team is usually responsible for third-line support. Once the application is in production the application, tools, and processes will have been handed over to the application maintenance team for its own use. You need to ensure that your processes and practices are fully documented so that they can be handed over accordingly.

• The ...