One of our more massively complex systems is about to get a major upgrade - and I mean major - this version has been in development for most of this year.

We've been doing a root-and-branch upgrade of the integration between two coupled systems - migrating blog platforms from a third-party package to in-house code, creating a single sign on across all sites, etc etc etc... pretty hardcore stuff.

For an upgrade this complex, it's not just a case of uploading files. The deployment has to be carefully planned so that

• all stakeholders are informed well in advance


• potential problems are foreseen and catered for before they occur


• everything is "roll-back-able"


• a schedule is agreed and stuck to

In other words, it's all about the three -ations:

• Anticipation


• Coordination


• Communication

We've been using our enterprise wiki, Confluence, to keep track of things, and I have to say, it's proved an invaluable tool for this situation.

In the planning meetings - which can last hours - we can very quickly record our technical discussions and create agreed minutes in the meeting itself, as we go along. The only tools needed are a web browser and, ideally, a projector, and the attendees can see the meeting notes (and the plan itself) developing in real time.

This also helps keep the meeting focussed : you have an identifiable goal ( "ok, by the end of this meeting we want to have sections X, Y and Z done..." ) and everyone can see the progress towards that goal as it happens. Even non-attendees can see the progress of the meeting while it's taking place, either by viewing the in-progress Confluence page or via RSS.

Also, as the deliverable outcome of this process is a step-by-step plan, the same idea is going to prove equally valuable while the plan is being carried out - i.e. in the actual deployment.

For each step, we've made rough estimates of timescale, and at each step of the way, we compare progress to the schedule, record it on the Confluence page, and revise estimates of the total downtime accordingly. If after, say, a third of the tasks have been performed, we're running behind schedule, then we're aware of that as we go along - and if we hit really serious snags, at any stage we have the information we need to make a decision as to whether we continue, or we abort and reschedule for once the snags have been addressed.

The important thing here is commnuication. Confluence makes it very easy to log progress as we go along, and record any relevant details. Just little interface niceties like the shortcut (y) producing a thumbs-up image - - make the updates an absolute breeze. The wiki ethos means that anyone can quickly add any notes or details as and when required, and all parties can be kept informed of progress just by viewing the web page or picking up updates via the RSS feeds - crucially, this happens without having to distract the techies to ask for an update.

Three key staff were involved in the preparation of the plan, and as with anything this complex, in the time between documenting the plan and putting it into action, each one of us has cogitated some more and thought of some small-but-significant little detail that we missed in the meeting. With this collaborative wiki approach, all we have to do is just record it in the appropriate place on the Confluence page, and all relevant parties get automatically notified.

And that's it - so much easier than the bad old days... so anyone out there who's still struggling with the Internet v1.0(tm) way of collaborative document development -

• E-mailing Word documents round every individual person, generating a huge list of replies, comments and revisions, which then have to be applied to the document and emailed round again, so no-one's ever quite sure if they have the latest version, and some people say they never got the e-mail, or their question wasn't answered because it got lost in the e-mail trail.... discussions and suggestions can take place through the blog-like comments system, and the latest version is always the visible one.


• Mysteriously disappearing detail that some people swear was there yesterday, and others don't remember at all - each update is logged and versioned off, and notified via RSS.


• ...add your horror story here...

- I would thoroughly recommend Gettin' Wiki With It. Give it a try - it might Change The Way You Work Forever...