Agile Exit Plan or DevOps

When you are doing Agile, you naturally gain a new skillset on exit planning. This is due to the time box that is set for your changes. Waterfall favor extensive test coverage, testing and sign off. On the other hand, Agile focus more on code quality, speed with CI/CD (Continuous Integration/ Continuous Delivery) methods. In another words, you formulate your exit plan while building for Agile. This is also commonly known as rollback plan.

In recent times, this is rename as DevOps that function in similar manner. In my team, I always emphasis End to End knowledge i.e DevOps and a need for Agile Exit Plan. Here are some ways of building your Agile Exit Plan while moving towards DevOps.

• Good Agile deployment must have resilience way to monitor and rollback your codes.
• Data integrity is a majority of deployment errors. Cultivate good code quality with exception handling.
• Train SME (Subject Matter Expert) who can provide good advice on exit plan for each Agile deployment.
• Develop 80/20 rule for your Exit Plan. Factor 20% as exception and focus your resources on the 80.
• If you do not have CI/CD, consider a feature toggle approach or canary testing in your Agile deployment.

It takes years of practice to master Exit Plan with waterfall approach. However, Agile is so intense that you can hone your skills within a year or two. If you are also handling Production like me, you are DevOps before you realise it.