Summary

Once, in an interview, champion football quarterback Tom Brady was asked which of his championship rings was his favorite, to which he replied, "The next one." Coming from a person who many already considered to be one of the most successful in his field, that response showed powerful commitment to a continuous pursuit of achievement (if not a little tongue-in-cheek hubris). As software developers, that same passion is what drives the never-ending cycle of improvement with every new release.

This chapter was about the part of the Operator development cycle that is even more important than the first release: the next one. Releasing new software versions is not something that is exclusive to Operators, but the idiomatic processes and upstream Kubernetes standards do create a unique set of requirements for Operator projects. By exploring the technical steps necessary to create and publish a new version, alongside the more abstract policies and timelines that dictate...