Shipping Was the Hard Part-Not Building It
Article summary
Shipping Was the Hard Part-Not Building It We finished the feature on time. But it didn’t ship. Merge conflicts, environment drift, untested deployment steps-it all turned into a wall between “done” and “live.” That’s when we realized: delivery isn’t a phase. It’s part of architecture. The Reality We Faced in Early 2017 Our tech stack looked fine on paper: CI scripts existed Tests were green (when run) Staging environments were up (most of the time) But when it came time to release: Deployments failed silently DB scripts weren’t idempotent Rollbacks were improvised CI was entirely manual, requiring engineers to run build scripts locally and upload artifacts by hand We built software that could work. But not software that could move. What We Changed to Make Shipping Predictable 1.
Read Full Article on MediumPractical takeaway
The main idea behind Shipping Was the Hard Part-Not Building It is to help teams move from broad theory to clear, repeatable decision making. When teams apply this thinking, they reduce ambiguity and focus on improvements that deliver measurable momentum.
Example scenario
Imagine a team facing competing priorities. By applying the ideas in Shipping Was the Hard Part-Not Building It, they can map dependencies, identify risks and choose the next move that produces progress without destabilizing their system.
Common mistakes to avoid
- Trying to redesign everything instead of taking small steps.
- Ignoring real constraints like incentives, ownership or legacy systems.
- Creating documents that do not lead to any change in code or decisions.
How to apply this in real work
Start by identifying where Shipping Was the Hard Part-Not Building It already shows up in your architecture or delivery flow. Then pick one area where clarity would reduce friction. Apply the idea, measure its effect and share the learning.
Signs you are doing it correctly
- Teams make decisions faster and with fewer disagreements.
- Architectural conversations become clearer and less abstract.
- Changes land safely with fewer surprises or rework cycles.