The team behind Plex has a brilliant strategy for dealing with bugs and addressing potential issues: Find them first.
“We’ve got a pretty good process in place,” says Steve Barnegren, Plex senior software engineer on Apple platforms, “and when that’s the case, things don’t go wrong.”
Launched in 2009, Plex is designed to serve as a “global community for streaming content,” says engineering manager Alex Stevenson-Price, who’s been with Plex for more than seven years. A combination streaming service and media server, Plex aims to cover the full range of the streaming experience — everything from discovery to content management to organizing watchlists.
This allows us more time to investigate the right solutions.
Ami Bakhai, Plex product manager for platforms and partners
To make it all run smoothly, the Plex team operates on a six-week sprint, offering regular opportunities to think in blocks, define stop points in their workflow, and assess what’s next. “I’ve noticed that it provides more momentum when it comes to finalizing features or moving something forward,” says Ami Bakhai, product manager for platforms and partners. “Every team has their own commitments. This allows us more time to investigate the right solutions.”
The Plex team iterates, distributes, and releases quickly — so testing features and catching issues can be a tall order. (Plex releases regular updates during their sprints for its tvOS flagship, iOS, iPadOS, and macOS apps.)
Though Plex boasts a massive reach across all the platforms, it’s not powered by a massive number of people. The fully remote team relies on a well-honed mix of developer tools (like Xcode Cloud and TestFlight), clever internal organization, Slack integration, and a thriving community of loyal beta testers that stretches back more than a decade. “We’re relatively small,” says Danni Hemberger, Plex director of product marketing, “but we’re mighty.”
Over the summer, the Plex team made a major change to their QA process: Rather than bringing in their QA teams right before the release, they shifted QA to a continuous process that unfolds over every pull request. “The QA team would find something right at the end, which is when they’d start trying to break everything,” laughs Barnegren. “Now we can say, ‘OK, ten features have gone in, and all of them have had QA eyes on them, so we’re ready to press the button.’”
Now we can say, ‘OK, ten features have gone in, and all of them have had QA eyes on them, so we’re ready to press the button.’
Steve Barnegren, Plex senior software engineer on Apple platforms
The continuous QA process is a convenient mirror to the continuous delivery process. Previously, Plex tested before a new build was released to the public. Now, through Xcode Cloud, Plex sends nightly builds to all their employees, ensuring that everyone has access to the latest version of the app.
Once the release has been hammered out internally, it moves on to Plex’s beta testing community, which might be more accurately described as a beta testing city. It numbers about 8,000 people, some of whom date back to Plex’s earliest days. “That constant feedback loop is super valuable, especially when you have power users that understand your core product,” says Stevenson-Price.
All this feedback and communication is powered by TestFlight and Plex’s customer forums. “This is especially key because we have users supplying personal media for parts of the application, and that can be in all kinds of rare or esoteric formats,” says Barnegren.
(CI) is a safety net. Whenever you push code, your app is being tested and built in a consistent way. That’s so valuable, especially for a multi-platform app like ours.
Alex Stevenson-Price, Plex engineering manager
To top it all off, this entire process is automated with every new feature and every new bug fix. Without any extra work or manual delivery, the Plex team can jump right on the latest version — an especially handy feature for a company that’s dispersed all over the globe. “It’s a great reminder of ‘Hey, this is what’s going out,’ and allows my marketing team to stay in the loop,” says Hemberger.
It’s also a great use of a continuous integration system (CI). “I’m biased from my time spent as an indie dev, but I think all indie devs should try a CI like Xcode Cloud,” says Stevenson-Price. “I think some indies don’t always see the benefit on paper, and they’ll say, ‘Well, I build the app myself, so why do I need a CI to build it for me?’ But it’s a safety net. Whenever you push code, your app is being tested and built in a consistent way. That’s so valuable, especially for a multi-platform app like ours. And there are so many tools at your disposal. Once you get used to that, you can’t go back.”
Learn more about Plex
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