Software Maturity Assessment: Level 2

Level 2: Accelerating Growth

Your score shows you've mastered basic practices and are ready to adopt more sophisticated approaches to software development.

Key Strengths

You've successfully implemented:

• Basic version control practices
• Initial automated testing
• Fundamental monitoring
• Basic deployment processes

Priority Focus Areas

1. CI/CD Pipeline Enhancement

Why it matters: Automated pipelines significantly reduce deployment risks and speed up delivery.

‍Quick win: Implement automated testing in your CI pipeline for one critical service.

‍Key implementation steps:

• Extend CI pipeline with automated testing stages
• Implement parallel test execution
• Set up automated environment provisioning
• Configure deployment approval gates
• Implement automated rollback capabilities

2. Infrastructure as Code

Why it matters: IaC reduces configuration errors and improves scalability.

‍Quick win: Start with Terraform for one non-critical environment.

‍Key implementation steps:

• Select IaC tool (Terraform/CloudFormation/Pulumi)
• Define infrastructure modules
• Implement state management
• Create environment promotion strategy
• Set up infrastructure testing

3. Enhanced Monitoring

Why it matters: Better observability leads to faster problem resolution and improved reliability.

‍Quick win: Implement distributed tracing for your main user journey.

‍Key implementation steps:

• Implement distributed tracing
• Set up log aggregation
• Create custom metrics
• Define and implement SLOs
• Configure advanced alerting rules

90-Day Action Plan

Most cross-cutting work outlined in this action plan will require strong project management skills. If you want to leverage a tool that will automate checks, keep track of health improvements, and nudge your team to do the next right thing, check out Campaigns within OpsLevel.

Month 1: CI/CD Enhancement

Week 1: Pipeline Design

• Map deployment pipeline stages
• Define quality gates
• Configure test environments
• Set up deployment approvals

Week 2: Test Automation

• Implement automated integration tests
• Set up test data management
• Configure test reporting
• Create test environment cleanup

Week 3: Deployment Automation

• Implement automated deployments
• Configure deployment strategies
• Set up rollback mechanisms
• Create deployment verification

Week 4: Security Integration

• Implement security scanning
• Configure vulnerability assessment
• Set up dependency scanning
• Create security gates

Month 2: Infrastructure as Code

Week 1: IaC Foundation

• Select and set up IaC tools
• Create basic infrastructure modules
• Set up state management
• Configure provider authentication

Week 2: Environment Templates

• Create environment templates
• Define variable structures
• Implement resource tagging
• Set up module versioning

Week 3: Testing Environment

• Migrate test environment to IaC
• Implement infrastructure testing
• Create validation procedures
• Document IaC patterns

Week 4: Process Integration

• Connect IaC to CI/CD
• Implement change approval
• Create documentation
• Train team on IaC practices

Month 3: Advanced Monitoring

Week 1: Tracing Setup

• Implement distributed tracing
• Configure sampling rules
• Set up trace aggregation
• Create trace visualization

Week 2: SLO Implementation

• Define SLO metrics
• Implement SLO monitoring
• Create SLO dashboards
• Configure SLO alerts

Week 3: Advanced Alerting

• Create alert hierarchy
• Implement alert routing
• Configure alert aggregation
• Set up incident management

Week 4: Integration & Automation

• Connect monitoring systems
• Automate response procedures
• Create runbooks
• Implement alert automation

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Ready to level up your software maturity game? Book a call with us to learn how OpsLevel can help you improve quality without slowing down your team.

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