While efficient automated deployment tools like Puppet and Capistrano are a big step in the right direction, its not the complete solution for an automated deployment process. This post will explore some of the less discussed issues which are as important for automated, fast, repeatable scalable deployments. 
Rapid Build and Integration with tests

Use Source control [...]

Most of the newer, successful, web startups have one thing in common. They release smaller changes more often. Being in operations, I am often surprised how these organizations manage such a feat without breaking their website. Here are some notes from someone in flickr about how they do it. The two most important part of [...]