CloudBees CEO talks about relationship with Jenkins and the user community

Jenkins is an open source project run by an independent, autonomous community. However, CloudBees is a significant contributor and benefactor to the Jenkins project.

With the Jenkins User Conference coming up in Alexandria, Virginia in less than two weeks I spoke with CloudBees CEO about the event and about the role CloudBees plays with Jenkins and the Jenkins user community:

The Jenkins User Conference and CD Summit US East, will be held in Alexandria, Virginia in a couple weeks. Gene Kim is one of the keynote presenters and the event includes an impressive list of sponsors, presenters, and attendees highlighting the momentum of DevOps. I spoke with CloudBees CEO Sacha Labourey—who will also be attending the event in Virginia—about the Jenkins User Conference, the growing Jenkins community, and CloudBees’ role in it all.

Labourey expressed satisfaction with the growth and strength of the open source community involved in developing and maintaining Jenkins. It is the success of the community that both demands and allows for the Jenkins User Conference to be organized at locations around the world throughout the year.

Continuous Delivery

Jenkins is a platform for continuous delivery or continuous integration. The concept may initially have been targeted at developers but Labourey believes that the focus on continuous delivery is now higher up in the corporate food-chain. It’s now IT operations people and even the CIO and other executive leaders who are addressing the question, “How can we improve the delivery of software within the organization?”

There is no single solution—no cookie cutter, one-size-fits-all way to do continuous delivery, though, according to Labourey. Every case is different.

That’s why an event like the Jenkins User Conference is so valuable. Those considering Jenkins or exploring continuous delivery can learn more. Those already using it can share their own lessons learned and best practices. The community can collaborate and compare notes. By meeting and sharing companies and individuals can understand how other organizations are accomplishing things and take away the tips and advice that make sense and try it out for themselves. The cooperative nature of the Jenkins community is the fuel that drives it.

Separation of church and state

I asked Labourey to explain the relationship between Jenkins and CloudBees. CloudBees business focuses on delivering Jenkins continuous integration / continuous delivery for customers, so CloudBees obviously has strong incentive to ensure the success of Jenkins. He told me that CloudBees is a significant supporter of and contributor to the Jenkins open source project. CloudBees does not own or control Jenkins, though, and believes strongly in maintaining what Labourey called the “separation of church and state.”

You can read the full post on DevOps.com: Jenkins User Conference is a win-win for CloudBees.