I recently took the time to write down my thoughts on why successfully managing code deployments in an online architecture is so radically different from release management in a traditional software engineering endeavor. ... Perhaps most challenging is the pace at which competition moves. In the online world, I can have an idea this morning, an implementation this afternoon and every client of my service that shows up tomorrow will see it.

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There is a pleasant dream where the world is black and white, problems are discreet, and solutions are straightforward. People that live in this dream are an obstacle unto themselves. The harsh reality is that we struggle daily to simplify things because they tend to be so complex. Most choices lead to outcomes that have both positive and negative aspects. This includes the choice of inaction (wrongfully referred to as "

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A while ago, I posted looking for an aspiring developer and somehow the blogosphere delivered. Here's my second attempt. OmniTI (currently) manages hundreds of machines running pretty much every flavor of operating system imaginable (almost zero Windows). We manage systems, routers, switches, load balancers, storage area networks -- basically, every operational component of today's large architectures. If you've ever seen me speak, I think one of the things that entertains people the most is the amusing anecdotes.

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Author's picture

Theo Schlossnagle

Distributed Systems, Scalability, and Operations. read more

CEO - Circonus

Maryland, USA