Migrating to a new release platform isn’t for the faint of heart. But if you’ve got an issue or gap with your release process, moving to a new platform can provide a ton of benefits.
Perhaps you want to be able to separate deployments from releases, get more control at runtime, and modernize your development/release platform—with the goal of enabling your developers to focus on building new features instead of babysitting unstable releases.
Though migrating to a new release platform can be a long, arduous process of RFPs, POCs, and cost negotiations, the most important part of a successful new product rollout is just getting started.
The big 3: planning, implementation, and support
Rolling out a new platform or tool has three basic stages: planning, implementation, and support.
Planning is one of the most important stages to ensure success. Make sure you put together a cross-functional implementation team that will:
- work through the installation and accessibility of the product
- integrate into the current software development lifecycle
- Apply KPIs to measure success
- create a monitoring strategy to ensure that the platform is performing as needed
Another element of planning is determining how to roll out the new platform for the best results. Pick one or two teams that need and want to participate. Fully implement the new platform with the initial team(s), work out the inevitable issues and gotchas, and track improvements closely. Be sure to share wins along the way; this creates positive momentum among the other teams.
Often, after the initial team has successfully piloted the platform and confirmed it’s ready for prime time, the biggest barrier is getting user buy-in. If people feel this new product and process was pushed on them, that it’s some leader’s pet project, or that it provides no value to their day-to-day work, they’re unlikely to adopt it with the vigor and optimism needed to make it a success.
Building bottom-up and top-down support for continued progress
When building bottom-up support, it’s not practical or useful to involve all potential users. Instead, focus on including key, influential team members early on by getting their input on the problem, working with them on the best solution, and giving them a voice in the decision-making process. This involvement goes a long way toward ensuring that they feel valued and acknowledged.
As most folks who have worked with software engineering teams know, discussions involving tooling and process can be akin to talking about religion; there can be some very passionate conversations with some real conviction regarding one approach vs. another. Capturing these views early helps generate support from the hands-on team.
This said, support from leadership is also critical. It’s very important to ensure continued support from an executive sponsor who was instrumental in obtaining the budget to purchase the platform. Leaders can help evangelize the new platform to their peers, and they can provide development teams with the time and resources needed to implement the platform properly.
Using the new platform to track improvement
Finally, illustrating the value users will get out of the new platform can have a significant impact on adoption. For example, you can measure how much time developers are spending on things like bug fixing, refactoring code, spikes on performance issues, babysitting releases, and generally doing anything other than working on new features and functionality. Continue to track this metric and demonstrate how the new platform helps developers decrease time spent on these issues, which lets them increase the time they spend writing new code.
Start this process well in advance of implementing the new platform so you can establish a solid baseline from which to measure change. The metric you choose needs to support the goals of the new platform. If your goal is to increase developer efficiency, build a generally agreed-upon system for measuring that metric and track it publicly. Transparency is important here. Building dashboards that highlight the data you’re tracking—and providing clear insight into how it is collected, analyzed, and measured—builds trust in that data.
After establishing this foundation, create an attainable goal to be achieved in a quick but reasonable timeline. For example, you could aim for a 5% increase in developer efficiency at the end of the first quarter after the product is implemented and in use. A quick win is very helpful for gaining continued momentum and using SMART goals to maximize the final results. As another example, an internal survey of active customers using LaunchDarkly shows an average increase of 8.8% in developer efficiency, so one could consider setting a goal of 10% within 6 months of implementation.
Learn more about how LaunchDarkly supports developer productivity.
Sample project outline for successful integration
Ready to get started? Here's an actionable plan I've seen succeed with teams undertaking platform migration. The steps in this plan can lead to solid and successful results (you can tweak the process to fit your unique business model).
📝 Planning and preparation (2–4 weeks)
Goals
- Understand the new platform’s differences and expected impact/improvements
- Align stakeholders: RACI (Responsible, Accountable, Consulted, Informed) or DACI (Driver, Approver, Contributor, Informed)
- Define success metrics and risks, build tracking mechanisms for monitoring progress.
Key Activities
- Assemble a rollout team (engineering leaders, platform team, devops, support)
- Define the scope: teams, components, environments affected
- Create comprehensive documentation (how-tos, onboarding guides, FAQs)
- Set up a feedback channel (Slack channel, internal forum, feedback form)
- Identify early adopter teams (open-minded, in need of improvement, diverse in stack, size, and workflows)
- Establish baselines for KPIs to be measured
Deliverables
- Rollout playbook
- Communication plan
- Risk mitigation plan
- KPI goals
🐣 Pilot phase (4–6 weeks)
Goals
- Validate core functionality and assumptions
- Gather early feedback
- Updated tooling and docs for full rollout
Scope
- 1–3 supportive teams
Key Activities
- Onboard teams with live support
- Track usage, pain points, blockers
- Capture metrics: deployment time, error rates, MTTR, etc.
- Host weekly check-ins or office hours for issue resolution or improvements
Deliverables
Updated docs
- List of improvements before wider rollout
- Pilot success report to include improved KPIs
📣 General availability (GA) announcement
Goals
- Let the org know the platform is ready
- Build momentum for adoption
Key Activities
- Announce availability org-wide
- Share pilot and limited rollout learnings
- Celebrate early adopters and success stories
- Make it easy to opt in (self-service onboarding with support)
- Schedule training for the teams
Deliverables
- Org-wide email, Slack posts, intranet updates
- Live Q&A session or training sessions
🛤️ Broad rollout (4–6 weeks)
Goals
- Onboard remaining teams gradually
- Ensure every team has what they need
Scope
- Remaining engineers
Key Activities
- Train the teams
- Continue with phased onboarding per team or department
- Offer office hours, 1:1 help where needed
- Monitor adoption progress weekly
- Provide incentives for early adoption (e.g., platform performance dashboards, recognitions)
Deliverables
- Adoption tracker (percentage onboarded)
- Platform usage reports
✅ Stabilization and continuous improvement (ongoing)
Goals
- Address remaining bugs and usability issues
- Continue enhancing based on feedback
Key Activities
- Bi-weekly feedback surveys
- Quarterly platform updates and new features
- Internal roadmap transparency
- Establish a long-term support model (center of excellence, internal champions, training for new hires)
📊 Success metrics
- % of teams onboarded within timeline
- User satisfaction scores (post-onboarding survey)
- Reduction in deployment issues/errors
- Increased release frequency or stability
- Support request volume (trending down over time)
- Developer Efficiency
🧠 Tips for a smooth rollout
- Start small but representative: Include key personnel and teams with influence.
- Celebrate quick wins: Share success stories and quantifiable benefits.
- Minimize forced migration: Encourage voluntary adoption through value, not mandates (until late-stage).
- Make rollback easy: Ensure teams can temporarily fall back if needed.
- Be transparent: Share roadmap, known issues, and timelines openly.
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