Talkspace eliminated deployment delays and improved release cycles drastically with Qovery!

#Key Results

• Eliminated Deployment Delays, achieving 20 consecutive on-time deployments
• Increased Flexibility and Confidence in the deployment process
• Empowered Developers and QA Teams with agile, collaborative environments
• Simplified Deployment Process
• Accelerated Time-to-Market for new features and updates

#Overview

Talkspace, a leading online therapy platform, faced significant challenges in their deployment processes due to the complexities of their microservices architecture and the need for collaborative, agile environments. Deployment delays were impacting their ability to deliver new features and improvements promptly, affecting both the development team’s efficiency and the overall business objectives. By partnering with Qovery, Talkspace transformed their deployment workflow. They eliminated deployment delays, increased flexibility and confidence in their processes, and empowered their developers and QA teams to work more collaboratively. The simplified deployment process and enhanced pre-development efficiency allowed Talkspace to accelerate innovation and deliver value to their users more effectively.

#The Challenge

#Complex Deployment Environment Leading to Delays

Talkspace operates with an agile development process, aiming to deploy to production environments every two weeks. w environment consists of numerous microservices and AWS systems, making the deployment pipeline complex and challenging to manage.

• Blocking release pipeline: Larger-scale features requiring more than one sprint were causing significant delays. These features would block other deployments, sometimes delaying all features in a sprint by up to two weeks.
• Inefficient testing environments: QA teams had to get creative with testing environments, often compromising on testing quality or efficiency.
• Developer constraints: Developers had to be cautious about when and where they merged code. Integrating features that weren’t ready for production involved complex workarounds like merging and reverting code changes.
• Single environment limitations: The lack of agile, collaborative environments hindered the ability of multiple developers to work simultaneously on segregated features and for QA to test without affecting the main code pipeline.

Jack Miller, Director of Site Reliability and Security at Talkspace, explained:

“There have been instances when one specific feature would delay all features in a sprint, maybe as much as two weeks. We needed more agile environments that were also collaborative.”

#Impact on Business and Development Efficiency

• Delayed time-to-market: Deployment delays affected the timely release of new features and improvements, impacting business goals and user satisfaction.
• Increased risk of bugs: Rushing deployments or sacrificing testing due to time constraints increased the potential for bugs reaching production.
• Inefficient pre-development work: Proof of Concepts (POCs) and pre-development planning were slower and less collaborative, hindering innovation.

#Ineffective Previous Solutions

Attempts to create local or Docker Compose environments were inadequate due to the complexity of their microservices and AWS integrations. Existing solutions lacked flexibility and required constant updates, failing to adapt to changes in the development environment.

#Requirements for an Ideal Solution:

1. Ease of configuration: minimal need for constant adjustments
2. Developer-friendly interface: accessible and intuitive for developers
3. Robust and reliable: capable of handling a complex environment
4. Seamless AWS integration: direct integration with their AWS accounts

#The Solution: Implementing Qovery

#Addressing Deployment Challenges and Enhancing Collaboration

Qovery provided a platform that automated deployment workflows and integrated seamlessly with Talkspace’s AWS infrastructure, effectively addressing their challenges. By implementing Qovery, Talkspace experienced several key benefits:

• Creation of isolated environments: Qovery enabled the team to create segregated environments where multiple developers could work simultaneously, and QA teams could test without impacting the main code pipeline.

“Qovery basically 100% solved that problem for us, we now have more agile environments that are collaborative.”— Jack Miller, Director of SRE and Security at Talkspace

• Flexibility with third-party integrations: The team could release different features more flexibly, especially those involving third-party integrations, without being tied to rigid timelines.

“Qovery allows us to create demo environments to work with partners on integrations and feel confident that the timeline can be flexible,” Jack explained.

• Enhanced pre-development efficiency: Developers could conduct POCs and share live updates, improving the efficiency of planning and design processes.
• Streamlined production deployments: By reducing the complexity of deployments, particularly on the production side, Qovery minimized the need for meticulous coordination and stakeholder communication.
• Seamless AWS integration: Since Qovery integrates directly within their own AWS accounts, it made it much easier to clone and spin up new versions similar to their existing environments.
• Proactive assistance: The Qovery team was responsive to requests, quickly implementing features or providing guidance.

#Results

#Eliminated Deployment Delays and Improved Time-to-Market

Since implementing Qovery, Talkspace has achieved 20 consecutive on-time deployments, eliminating previous delays that sometimes postponed releases by up to two weeks. This consistency has improved their time-to-market for new features, aligning with business objectives and enhancing user satisfaction.

“Since onboarding Qovery, we have not delayed any deployments.That’s at least 20 deployments without delays.” — Jack Miller, Director of SRE and Security at Talkspace

#Increased Flexibility and Confidence in Feature Releases

The team can now release features more flexibly, particularly those requiring third-party integrations. The availability of isolated testing and development environments has increased confidence that features are thoroughly tested and ready for production.

“We can be much more flexible with the way we want to release different features,” Jack said. “We feel much more confident that they’re thoroughly tested and ready to go out.”

#Empowered Development and QA Teams

Developers and QA teams are empowered to collaborate effectively in isolated environments, reducing bottlenecks and increasing efficiency. This has improved pre-development processes and fostered innovation.

#Streamlined Deployment Process

By automating deployment workflows, Qovery reduced the complexity of production deployments, minimizing the need for cautious coordination and reducing the potential for errors.

“Previously, my SRE team needed to be extremely cautious about changes going to production. Now, we can feel much more confident,” Jack explained.

#Reliable and Adaptable Solution with Responsive Support

Qovery has proven to be a robust platform that adapts as Talkspace’s development environment changes. The responsive support from Qovery’s team has enhanced the overall experience.

#Conclusion

Implementing Qovery has allowed Talkspace to eliminate deployment delays, increase flexibility and confidence in releasing features, and empower their developers and QA teams to collaborate effectively. These improvements have accelerated innovation and enabled Talkspace to deliver high-quality mental health services more efficiently.

“Qovery has given us the ability to inject more flexibility and inject more confidence in our deployment process,” said Jack Miller, Director of Site Reliability and Security at Talkspace. “It has dramatically simplified our deployment process and empowered our teams!”

Disclaimer: Talkspace utilizes Qovery exclusively in non-production environments that do not contain real user or patient data. Qovery assists with development and deployment processes without handling any sensitive information.

#About Jack Miller

Jack Miller is the Director of Site Reliability and Security at Talkspace. He oversees all infrastructure, reliability, and CI/CD deployment processes, ensuring that Talkspace’s technological operations support their mission to make mental health care accessible and convenient.

#About Talkspace

Talkspace is a leading provider of virtual mental health care headquartered in New York, NY, United States. Talkspace provides convenient access to high-quality, evidence-based therapy, psychiatry, and self-guided support. The Talkspace network of 5,000+ licensed clinicians includes therapists and psychiatric providers with specialized knowledge of more than 150 conditions and treatment approaches. 

#About Qovery

Qovery is an all-in-one DevOps automation platform that simplifies cloud infrastructure management on AWS, GCP, and Azure. By abstracting the complexities of Kubernetes and cloud services, Qovery enables developers to deploy applications effortlessly.
Ready to see Qovery in action? Discover how Qovery can empower your team and simplify your deployment process. Schedule a Demo Today!!