"We Don't Upgrade until the first patch!" - Surprise, Patch 2 is GA!

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Hi there,

How often have you heard customers say, "We don't upgrade to a new ServiceNow release until the first patch"? I've heard that quite a few times over the years. And honestly, I understand the reasoning behind it. Let others discover the initial issues, wait for the first fixes, and then upgrade.

Well, surprise! with the Australia release, Patch 2 was already available at General Availability (GA)!

But has this always been the case? When did ServiceNow start releasing patches before General Availability? And when can you actually expect new patches to become available? I did some digging into the release history, going all the way back to Madrid (2019), and compared the release timelines.

Let's have a look!

History

Looking back at previous ServiceNow releases, it appears that starting with the New York release (2019), Patch 1 became the version available at General Availability. Before that, releases such as Kingston, London, and Madrid followed a slightly different pattern, with General Availability not being Patch 1. This Patch 1 pattern continued for several years, from the Orlando release till the Zurich release. Although there was one exception along the way.

And then came the Australia release, where Patch 2 was already available at General Availability. For the Brazil release, we can already see the same behavior: we are currently on Patch 1 whilst still being on Early Availability (EA), which means General Availability will be (at least) Patch 2.

Small disclaimer: The historical information above is based on publicly available release information I found while researching this article. So any corrections or additional insights are welcome!

Patch dates

Let's have a closer look at the release dates of patches for the most recent ServiceNow releases. When did they become available, when did they reach General Availability, and how frequently were patches released?

For this overview, I'm focusing on the regular numbered patches, not the newer weekly security patch releases or individual hotfixes.

Australia release

Australia Patch 1 was already available about a month before General Availability. By the time Australia became generally available, Patch 2 had arrived.

Brazil release

And what about Brazil, the next ServiceNow family release?

Brazil Patch 2 is already available, while the release is still in Early Availability.

Patch frequency

Looking at the timelines of recent releases, we can see that regular patches typically arrive every four to six weeks, although there are exceptions. Sometimes two patches arrive only a few weeks apart, while other intervals are longer. There isn't necessarily a fixed date each month on which a new patch becomes available.

You can find the latest patch releases and their availability in the official ServiceNow documentation:

Australia - Available patches and hotfixes

Brazil - Available patches and hotfixes

Wait for Patch 2?

Well, that's entirely up to your organization's upgrade strategy! Waiting for the first few patches certainly makes sense in some situations.

But waiting specifically for Patch 2 might no longer mean what you think it means.

With Australia, Patch 2 was already available on the very first day of General Availability. And Brazil looks like it follows the same pattern.

And let's not forget, a higher patch number doesn't necessarily guarantee a more stable release! Every now and then, a new patch introduces a significant bug of its own. So even if you're already on Patch 4 or Patch 5, that doesn't automatically mean you're better off than on an earlier patch. Proper upgrade planning, testing, and reviewing known issues remain important.

But perhaps it's time to reconsider that familiar statement: "We don't upgrade until the first patch!".

That's it. Hope you like it. If any questions or remarks, let me know!

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Kind regards,

Mark Roethof

Independent ServiceNow Consultant

11x ServiceNow MVP