If you work in software today, you know the feeling. It’s not just the speed of change that’s exhausting; it’s the acceleration of that change. In physics, the rate of change of acceleration is called “jerk.” In our industry, we face a “Technological Jerk”—a disruptive force that makes shipping software feel chaotic and risky.
For years, our answer was CI/CD (Continuous Integration/Continuous Deployment). And while CI/CD is foundational, it solves for technical efficiency, not necessarily human adoption.
Enter Progressive Delivery.
Progressive Delivery is the necessary evolution of modern software development. It shifts the focus from simply moving bits to servers, to a human-centric approach: delivering the right software, to the right users, at the right time. It’s about decoupling “deployment” (a technical act) from “release” (a business decision).
To navigate this, we use a framework built on four pillars—the Four ‘A’s. Let’s break them down and see how they connect to the tools and practices we use every day.
1. Abundance (Technological Potential Energy)
The first pillar is Abundance. We live in an era of infinite scale. Cloud computing and serverless architectures have given us a massive reservoir of resources. In the physics of software, think of Abundance as Potential Energy. We have the raw power to do almost anything.
How it connects:
- The Trap of Sprawl: Abundance is a double-edged sword. Just because we can spin up 500 microservices doesn’t mean we should. Without discipline, abundance leads to resource sprawl and carelessness.
- FinOps: This is the counter-balance. As we lean into abundance, practices like FinOps become critical to ensure that our “potential energy” doesn’t turn into financial waste.
- Cloud Native: Abundance is the direct result of moving from constrained physical data centers to flexible cloud environments.
2. Autonomy (Force Vectors of Motion)
The second pillar is Autonomy. To move fast, we cannot have every decision bottled up by a central committee. Engineers and teams need the power to make decisions independently. Think of Autonomy as Force Vectors. Each team is a vector with its own magnitude and direction.
How it connects:
- Microservice Architecture: This is the structural enabler of autonomy. By building loosely coupled services, Team A can deploy their update without breaking Team B’s code.
- Feature Flags: This is the tactical tool of autonomy. A developer can merge code to production but keep it “off” for users. This grants the autonomy to ship constantly without the fear of blowing up the user experience.
- The Risk of Chaos: Autonomy without our next pillar (Alignment) leads to fragmentation—vectors cancelling each other out rather than moving the product forward.
3. Alignment (Frame of Reference)
If Autonomy provides the motion, Alignment provides the direction. In physics, motion is relative; you need a Frame of Reference to know if you are actually going somewhere. Alignment ensures that all those autonomous force vectors are summing up to a cohesive product strategy.
How it connects:
- Observability: This is how we measure alignment. It’s not just “monitoring” (is the server up?); it’s about high-cardinality data that lets us ask unanticipated questions. Are users actually adopting the new feature? Is the business value being realized?
- Collaborative Goals: Alignment centers human decision-making. It requires clarity on why we are building something, ensuring that developers, product managers, and stakeholders share the same definition of success.
4. Automation (The Spring Constant)
Finally, we have Automation. If the “Technological Jerk” is the jarring bump in the road, Automation is the Shock Absorber (or Spring Constant). It dampens the blow of rapid change, allowing us to move fast without breaking the vehicle.
How it connects:
- Infrastructure as Code (IaC): Automation isn’t just scripts; it’s codifying your environment. IaC ensures that your “shock absorbers” are consistent across dev, staging, and production.
- Resilience & Futureproofing: Automation creates resilient systems. It includes automated rollouts and, crucially, automated rollbacks.
- Risk Mitigation: We’ve seen what happens when rollouts are mismanaged (the recent CrowdStrike outage is a stark reminder). Automation in Progressive Delivery includes safety checks and “canary” releases to catch issues before they impact 100% of the user base.
Summary
Progressive Delivery isn’t just a buzzword; it’s a methodology for managing technological change in a way that respects both the builder and the user.
By leveraging Abundance responsibly, granting Autonomy to teams, ensuring Alignment through data, and applying Automation as our safety net, we turn the chaos of modern development into a smooth, continuous stream of value.
Think you’ve mastered the concepts? I’ve put together a quick quiz to test your knowledge on the Four ‘A’s.
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