ClueCon Weekly with Michael Dowden [Sn. 15 Ep. 8]: Separating Deploys from Releases

ClueCon Weekly with Michael Dowden [Sn. 15 Ep. 8]: Separating Deploys from Releases

What’s the real difference between deploying code and releasing software? Michael Dowden, CEO of Andromeda Galactic Solutions, joins Jon Gray to unpack why those aren’t the same thing and how teams can ship faster without punishing users. We dig into: 🔘Deploy ≠ Release: Why moving bits to prod isn’t the moment users should feel the change. 🔘Release Strategies: Feature flags, canary and blue/green, and timing updates (e.g., “their 4 a.m.”) to avoid workflow disruption. 🔘Product vs. Business Outcomes: Design for the user’s goal (e.g., “no one’s goal is to park; it’s dinner or a movie”) and align with company values—without dark UX. 🔘Feedback That Matters: Build clean feedback channels, aggregate similar issues, avoid overreacting to statistically tiny signals. 🔘Mobile “Nobody Uses It” Trap: Low usage often means the experience is bad—not that users don’t want it. 🔘Ownership Handoffs: BA → Dev → DevOps → Product → Support, with explicit responsibilities and feedback loops at each stage. 🔘AI, Carefully Applied: Use LLMs for classification/aggregation; prefer traditional ML for consistency; sometimes a shell script is the best tool. 🔘Remote Leadership: Manage to outcomes, not chair time. Publicly recognize contributions, make standups goal-focused, and build culture intentionally.