Enhancing software release velocity

Abstract

This thesis investigates critical software delivery latency at a large fintech organization, where a modern micro-application architecture was severely bottle-necked by a legacy, manual, ticketing-based approval system. This hybrid environment created an acute organizational bottleneck, imposing high coordination burdens and unpredictable delays on globally distributed feature teams.

Using an Action Research (AR) methodology, the study first established a high-friction baseline, measuring the median Lead Time for Changes (LTC) at 20.2 hours. The core intervention involved replacing the mandatory manual approval gate with a fully automated, self-service deployment model integrated directly into the Continuous Integration/Continuous Delivery (CI/CD) pipeline.

The intervention successfully drove significant organizational efficiency, yielding a 69% reduction in LTC, dropping the median time from 20.2 hours to 6.2 hours. Concurrently, Deployment Frequency (DF) increased by 213% (from 47 to 100 releases per week). This improvement solidified the organization's position within the DORA elite performance tier.

The primary practical guidance derived from this case study is that sustained software acceleration requires prioritizing the decentralization of control over the deployment trigger. This is achieved not merely through technical automation, but by deliberately eliminating all mandatory human coordination steps via external systems (e.g., tickets), relying instead on real-time visibility tooling integrated into the developer workflow. Additionally, and more importantly, this required a complementary organizational culture shift, which involved transfer-ring accountability for production stability directly from administrative roles, such as the Program Manager, to the autonomous development teams.