Rapid releases and rethinking software engineering

I have a new post up at blog@CACM, "Frequent releases change software engineering", on why software companies should consider deploying software much more frequently than they usually do.

Here is an excerpt, the last two paragraphs, as a teaser:

Frequent releases are desirable because of the changes it forces in software engineering. It discourages risky, expensive, large projects. It encourages experimentation, innovation, and rapid iteration. It reduces the cost of failure while also minimizing the risk of failure. It is a better way to build software.

The constraints on software deployment have changed. Our old assumptions on the cost, consistency, and speed of software deployments no longer hold. It is time to rethink how we do software engineering.

This CACM article expands on some of the discussion in an earlier post, "The culture at Netflix", on this blog and in the comments to that post. By the way, if you have not yet seen Reed Hastings' slides on the culture at Netflix, they are worth a look.