A Quick Look at Ephemeral Environments | The IT Guy Show Ep. 6

Back in my days as a systems administrator, there were no non-production environments. It was all about keeping everything running, all the time, even the dev boxes. So in this episode I take a look at ephemeral environments, a concept for spinning up disposable systems to make building and testing easier for everyone.

A few things worth carrying away from this one:

• Disposable is the point. Ephemeral environments let you quickly build and test on systems you can throw away, instead of guarding a fixed set of servers forever.
• They make life easier across the enterprise. The benefit is not just for developers. Easier, safer testing helps the whole organization move.
• DORA gives you a way to measure it. I got into DORA metrics and minimum viable CD as a way to know whether these changes are actually improving how you ship.

It is a different world from where I started, and this one covers why that shift is worth making.