0. Make 99% of your setups runnable locally, with Docker if need be. It's the fastest way to test something and nothing else come close. #1 and #2 derive from #

0. Make 99% of your setups runnable locally, with Docker if need be. It's the fastest way to test something and nothing else come close. #1 and #2 derive from #0. This is actually a principle for code, too, if you have stuff like Lambda, make sure you have a command line entry point, too and you can also test things locally. 1. Avoid YAML if you can. Either plain configuration files (generated if need be - don't be afraid to do this) or full blown programming languages with all the rigor required (linting/static analysis, tests, etc). 2. Move ALL logic outside of the pipeline tool. Your actions should be ./my-script.sh or ./my-tool. Source: lots of years of experience in build engineering/release engineering/DevOps/...