Large Build Teams: Help or Hindrance?

Should we use build and deployment teams on large projects? Build and deployment work often emerges as a specialization on project teams. This specialization becomes important on medium to large projects as the complexity of deploying code and configuring enterprise environments increases. However, how do we coordinate the work of this team with the work of the development teams and how do we ensure this team helps the development team that it serves rather than hinders it? In this report we share the experience of an eight person distributed agile build team on a large bespoke software project at an investment bank. The report spans the formation of the team from the USA, the UK and India to the adjournment of the team after finishing the deployment to production on time without fuss. Topics include: how we worked in a distributed agile 8-10 person team in San Francisco and London, how we used agile methods to track build and deployment tasks; how we worked in iterations, estimated the work for each iteration, and tracked velocity over time.