Docker.
Docker packages an application together with its dependencies into a container image that runs the same way on any machine. It removes the class of problem where software works on one environment and fails on another for reasons nobody can reproduce.
Where Docker fits on a long engagement.
The benefit most teams actually feel is onboarding. A new specialist runs one command and has a working environment, instead of spending two days following a README written for a machine that no longer exists. On an engagement where people join over several years, that compounds.
Images rot quietly. A base image pinned three years ago carries three years of unpatched libraries, and a Dockerfile that installs whatever is latest builds differently every week. Both are avoidable with pinned versions and a rebuild cadence, and both are nearly universal in estates nobody owns.
What an assigned team does with Docker.
Containerisation is the part of a stack that quietly stops being maintained. Base images drift out of support, build times creep past the point where anyone waits for them, and nobody owns either because both are everyone's problem and no one's ticket.
On an assigned team it sits with whoever owns the pipeline. Where the same specialists also carry the application, the whole thing is normally one dedicated development team rather than split across two providers who each blame the other.
What we use Docker for.
- A working environment on day one New capacity productive immediately rather than after two days of setup archaeology.
- Making the pipeline match production The same image tested and deployed, so a passing build means something about the thing that ships.
- Reducing build time Layer caching and multi-stage builds applied to a pipeline where every commit currently costs twelve minutes.
How Docker capacity is assigned.
Containerisation is assumed within DevOps managed services rather than scoped separately, because almost nothing else in the pipeline works well without it.
Tell us what your roadmap needs Docker for.
A service delivery manager replies with the disciplines we would assign, the monthly capacity and what the first month looks like.
Loading the contact form… You can also email hello@azendo.co.
We reply within one working day. No obligation, and no newsletter.