I had the pleasure of picking Scott Bellware's brain, today, about some questions surrounding Continuous Integration and build promotion.
The results of the conversation have yet to be implemented, but I have a much better understanding of the situation, now. In my previous post, I was under the impression that the issue was purely technical or mechanical - I thought I needed some special software to automagically do a bunch of deployment related tasks and push my software up to the next level (Dev, Test, UAT, Production). As it turns out, I already have all of the tools, technical ability, and mechanics to solve the problem. What I was lacking, was the correct perspective. Rather than trying to dig my way through the mud that I've been so mired into, Scott was able to help me back out of the mud and turn around to see the clear waters in front of me.
I now understand that I should not be *pushing* from Dev to Test to UAT, but rather I should let the person responsible for the target environment *pull* the build into their environment. It's amazing how a simple perspective change can open up an entire world of possibilities.
I'll be sure to blog about my solution to the issue, as it becomes reality. Hopefully I can save a few others from the same torture that I've been putting myself through.