Release Management with JIRA at BlackRock

GABRIEL TIU • DIRECTOR • BLACKROCK JP PARAMOR • DIRECTOR • BLACKROCK

Agenda B l a c k R o c k a n d o u r C h a l l e n g e s

P r o c e s s S o l u t i o n

T e c h n o l o g y S o l u t i o n

R e l e a s e P a t h - J I R A

BlackRock & our Challenges B l a c k R o c k & o u r C h a l l e n g e s

P r o c e s s S o l u t i o n

T e c h n o l o g y S o l u t i o n

R e l e a s e P a t h - J I R A

Family of exchange-traded funds (ETFs)

We’re the world’s largest Asset Management firm with over 4.77 trillion dollars under management

End-to-end investment platform

Investment and Risk Management: Delivering unbiased advice and customized solutions

Technology Alignment to Business

Product Group A Product Group B … X.Y.Z Development Services

Product Group Owner

Team Owners

Teams & Developers

Business Group A Business Group B … X.Y.Z

Finance Gurus

Low Risk

High Risk

Medium Risk

Aladdin at BlackRock

Client A Client B Client C Client D … Client Z

Development &

Testing

Environments

500 Wkly Deployments

81 M Lines of Code

4k Technical Staff

By the numbers

65 Distinct Clients

DOG FOOD, eat it Leverage and integrate existing BlackRock technologies

Holistic SDLC

WAgilefall

Idea inception to production deployment

Support any development methodology

Bespoke Needs

Key Process Requirements

Multi-level reviews & approvals

Dynamic risk-based impact of change

One Release through multiple deployments, tracing the origins of

rollbacks

Transparency of changes across

BlackRock and Clients

Volume & Change Types

Interface with existing process

Useable by all Development Methods

Control Relationships & Dependencies

Visibility Scalability Extensibility

Technology Solution

T e c h n o l o g y S o l u t i o n

P r o c e s s S o l u t i o n

B l a c k R o c k & o u r C h a l l e n g e s

R e l e a s e P a t h - J I R A

Key Technology Solution

Workflow, Issuetypes, Screens

Subtasks, Links Dashboard, Filters, Subscriptions, Notifications

Flexible & Scales in volume of issues and

users

SDK, Plugin library, APIs

Control Relationships & Dependencies

Visibility Scalability Extensibility

ReleasePath Plugin Developed our own functionality via Atlassian’s JIRA SDK. E.g. Voting field

Integrations

Alter JIRA Terminology

Aladdin Dashboard, Software Release Tool validation via REST API, ReleasePad (iOS)

With language packs, Issues became Packets, Injected a Help Menu

Extensibility

JIRA … ReleasePath

Software Development Life Cycle

Intelligent Voting

Talking our language

ReleasePath Technology Solution

Control Relationships & Dependencies

Visibility Scalability Extensibility

Release Packet Parent Issue Types represents the release concept

Deployment Packets

Subtask automation

Subtasks represent individual deployments to given clients on specific dates

Bob Swift’s, Clone Plus and Create on Transition streamlines issue creation

Relationships and

Dependencies

JIRA … ReleasePath

Type your annotation here, the dotted line can be moved and/or re-sized.

Type your annotation here

Release Packet Vs Deployment Packet

Controlled Cloning

ReleasePath Technology Solution

Control Visibility Relationships & Dependencies

Scalability Extensibility

Email Templates Customisable emails via velocity templates

Dashboard Publishing

PDF View

Dashboard Distribution plugin (catWorkX) allows instant setup for new starters

PDFView (Midori) plugin provided scriptable templates for custom PDF generation

Visibility

JIRA … ReleasePath

Embedded Attachments

Concise PDF Digest

ReleasePath Technology Solution

Control Scalability Relationships & Dependencies

Visibility Extensibility

Actionable Notifications EBF Approvals via email and Jelly scripts

Packet Templating

Speed of Delivery

A Dashboard of existing templates for regular release, using the Clone Plus plugin

From prototype to polished solution in hours not days or weeks allows us to be agile to ever evolving requirements

Scale

ReleasePath

ReleasePath Technology Solution

Scalability Control Relationships & Dependencies

Visibility Extensibility

Workflow Controls Branch workflow based on risk and need for co-ordination or SME review

Issues Types

Appropriate Controls

Different types of releases requiring different workflow approvals

Fast track Workflow Options for low risk changes

Control

Plugins

Clone Plus !Bob Swift!

Toolkit Plugin!Atlassian!

Create on Transition! Bob Swift!

Misc Custom Fields!Innovalog!

Dynamic Forms!Intenso!

nFeed !Valiantys!

JIRA SU! Plugin People!

Dashboard Distribution!catWorkX!

Misc Workflow Extensions!Innovalog!

Suite Utilities!Beecom!

Script Runner!Jamie Echlin!

PDF View!Midori!

Calendar Plugin!Atlassian!

Lots of Interfaces

Although making changes in JIRA is quick and easy, having lots of external dependencies increases the Risks involved with change.

Upgrades

Version Control

API dependencies and customizations makes JIRA upgrades are non trivial.

Metadata changes are manual and remain comingled with JIRA issue data.

Challenges building on top of JIRA

ReleasePath - JIRA

R e l e a s e P a t h - J I R A

P r o c e s s S o l u t i o n

T e c h n o l o g y S o l u t i o n

B l a c k R o c k & o u r C h a l l e n g e s

! !

Packet Approval

Packet Review

Voting Approval Tracking

ReleasePad – JIRA integration with iPad

Critical Mass Identify enough need for the change

Support

Timing

Listen to your business and users, they will tell you what is needed

Process is ever changing. Do what you can when you can

Final Thoughts

Thank you!

GABRIEL TIU • DIRECTOR • BLACKROCK JP PARAMOR• DIRECTOR • BLACKROCK