Marvelution was started in 2008 as an open-source umbrella project and was working as the same until 2015. Finally, in 2015 the company was established with a robust system to help others. This project later became the Jenkins integration for the Jira app. Now the formidable infrastructure was entirely a matter of discussion. It included SLA based support and provided open-source information. It helped many companies in their development and offered great support for customers and competitors. As per him, it was open and honest which is required for business. Mark handle all the coding and support customers. He started this amazing integration solution in 2015 and hence he had much time for development and enhancement, so it focused on every aspect of the company, making it an ideal open source for information.
Mark Rekveld is the Founder of Marvelution. Mark did his bachelor’s degree in informatics and was quite a talented person. He started working in a big consultancy firm after graduation. Now, as a consultant, he was very eager to understand how things work in the company. He didn’t yet know how open source was applicable for projects meant for the governments, banks and other companies.
So he started learning his ways and created marvelution as an open-source umbrella project for everyone. He was eligible and talented enough to lead this open source project. This was started with the Jira Hudson plugin project in 2008. He modified the integration of the application because he did not like the previous integration. Now, this mindset of his led him to establish his own company named Marvelution in 2015. Now he was able to handle different open source projects on his own.
In Conversation with Mark Rekveld, Founder of Marvelution
How do Bitbucket pipelines work?
Now talking about the Bitbucket pipelines, it is an integrated CI/CD Service. This is an Atlassian service which has proved to be very cost effective. It is used by Marvelution to provide quick feedback on any captured work changes. It offers accurate build plans on every commit and will continue to do so because of a great mechanism. It is used to make sure that everything is working as expected. This system was used by mark because he was a big fan of automation and this system regulated automatic build and deployment processes. He believes in reducing human error which is why he had to leave everything to automatic computers.
How are you managing Jenkins integration with Jira?
The company has always been keeping a keen eye on customer feedback which helps them improve the application. They always listen to any queries and problems that the customers face and provide the required solution for the customers. They are always honest and open while communicating with the customers, which are vital for success. They have built an open-source application with open source code. Now talking about the build results, it was similar to the issues of the public Jira instance. The CEO of the company strongly believes the direct communication, genuine involvement and an open platform for the customers has always been successful in the market. To stand out in the long run, it is essential to listen to the customers with concentration.
How would you define Jira Integrations with Jenkins to someone new to the field?
There are two major tools that are being widely used in the software development industry. The first is an issue tracker named Jira by Atlassian which make sure that all your processes are faultless. Now you can track all your tasks and manage your work progress easily. The second one is Jenkins which is an open source project of the continuous delivery foundation. Both of these tools are brought together by Marvelution and a robust integration has been developed. Many product managers usually don’t use Jenkins, but it can be beneficial to them when it comes to information gathering.
The Jenkin integration for the Jira app has always been compelling in providing an excellent platform for the users. It also allows you to get a powerful insight by combining issue data with Jenkins build and deployment data. Now there is an excellent chance for developers to see if any build related problems are present. Moreover, the project managers can watch over their next release on the track. Apart from all these improvements, it also provides cross-linking if a build or deployment is related to multiple issues in Jira. Hence, users can easily see any impact of a result in Jenkins.
What is the importance of the Test Kits libraries project for you?
They are mainly used as a utility to test using different methods. It is used to make testing easier for the developers to implement. It can be used for functional, in browser, tests as well as integration, technical, tests. These are designed to be put in a separate open-source project. In this way, everyone will be able to use it, and it will not only be confined today to hands-off developers and application personal. This is a great way to handle projects because tests are everywhere.
Which Bitbucket pipeline is bringing you the best results?
Some pipelines run on branches. Since feature development is done on separate units to keep the master in a releasable state, the feature branches provide the most value. Moreover, now all results acquired from the branch pipelines can be used to determine if the feature can be merged or not. The feature branch makes sure that new features are added.
What is the essential key to your success? Share the experience
Keeping an open mindset, the Jenkins integration for the Jira app started its service. It was counted as an open-source project where many innovative minds were used. The CEO believes that being open, honest, and listening to customers is vital for business, so it was possible to get to where marvelution is today.
What are the biggest challenges your company has faced in the initial years?
It is essential to have a cost-efficient pricing system not to face any problems while paying for the services. For example, until 2015, the Jenkins integration for Jira was free of cost for everyone to use. Now when this SLA based support was introduced, there was a great need for funding. This is one of the primary reasons they needed to find a reasonable pricing model for their services. Mark found it hard to face this challenge as all the services were free to use until 2015. Now an efficient pricing system is essential for a business to grow.
What do you feel are the reasons behind your company’s reputation?
Providing an excellent platform for the customers to give their feedback has been the key feature behind the company’s reputation. Therefore, it is essential to become open, honest and listen to customers whenever they have any queries.
Do you have any new products or services launching soon?
The Jenkins integration to the Jira app has been the most recent development. It is doing quite well in handling the load but new steps are being taken to make sure that this app keeps up with the growing demand. The next major feature is allowing customers to choose whether they want EU of US to be the destination where all their data is stored.
What are your plans for the future of Marvelution?
Whenever the CEO is asked about any of his plans, he always replies simply that he wishes to have fun. He also said that many more new features and improvements have yet to come to the existing features. It will provide more integration to support the involvement of the customers more and more. They want to get the most out of their integration.
