THE LONG AND WINDING ROAD:  Implementation of Release Management at the Met Office

Tuesday 24th February 2009

Presented by Alan McCoy, the Met Office

See link on left or below for registration.

Synopsis

This presentation will look at some of the real-life experiences of implementing and championing a Release Management framework across  the Met Office.

It looks at practical usage of the ITIL Service Transition process, as well as the interactions with more traditional software development lifecycle processes (ALM).

As one of the world's leading providers of environmental and weather-related services, Met Office products  meet the needs of many communities ranging from the general public,  the  government and defence services , through to  the media , civil aviation and almost every other industry sector both within the UK and around the world.  To support a quality service delivery across the entire organisation, a consistent release methodology was required and to this end the Met Office’s Release Management Team was formed in late 2007.

This presentation will look at the initial challenges of designing a fit for purpose process, gaining buy-in, ongoing implementation work, and future plans for Release Management across  the Met Office. 

Actual examples of the pit-falls and benefits so far will also be discussed. A case study will be presented on various web components which are produced using Agile development methods and released monthly.

Speaker Bio

Alan McCoy  joined the Met Office's Release Management Team Leader in  March 2008.

Before joining the Met Office Alan worked in Australia for 11 years. He was a Deployment Manager at the country’s largest telecommunications company. Alan also has experience as a Release Manager for an international dairy foods company within the Asia Pacific region.

Alan now leads the Release Management Team within the Met Office and is responsible for the on-going design, integration and delivery of the framework  as well as day to day management of release activities across commercial and government business services.

Time and Location

The event starts at 18.00 at the BCS London Office, 5 Southampton Street. The meeting is free. You can find out about joining the CMSG at the meeting.

Registration

Online registration is required for security and catering purposes:

www.bcs.org/events/registration

PROGRAMME

Tuesday 24th February 2009

The Configuration Management Specialist Group provides a forum for exchanging ideas, developing and promoting Change, Configuration Management and Release Management best practices and standards including formal accreditation and professional qualifications