I like run scripts. Shell or python scripts that do nothing other than prompt the user with what to do, or which choice to make, and wait for them to hit a key to proceed to the next step. Encode the run book flowchart into an interactive script. Then if a step can be automated, the run book script can directly call that automation. Eventually you may end up with a fully automated script, but even if you don't it can still be a significant help.
Someone gave me that idea about eight years ago and I spent the next several trying to look for a nail for that hammer.
I eventually expanded the one I wrote to include URLs to the right places in Bamboo to do things like disable triggers or start manual deployments. By the time I finished that we were doing 10x as many canary deployments as we had been before, and we’re retiring tech debt way faster because of it. 10/10 would do again.
npm publish will open a web browser for you for passcode entry, and I think I’ll do that next time instead of using cut and paste.
