Database DevOps | Stephen Atwell

In this session, Stephen Atwell, Director of Product at Harness.io, walks through a real-world approach to managing PostgreSQL schema changes inside modern CI/CD pipelines without taking downtime. Using a live demo application running on Kubernetes, Stephen explores how teams can handle backwards-compatible database migrations, production data testing, rollback planning, blue-green deployments, and canary releases while keeping both old and new application versions running in parallel. The session also looks at how triggers, JSON parsing functions, and automated deployment workflows can help teams safely evolve database schemas, reduce manual operational overhead, and create more reliable deployment processes for stateful applications. Speaker: Stephen Atwell Director of Product, Harness.io This session was recorded as part of the PostgresWorld Webinar Series 2026.