diff --git a/.travis/functions.sh b/.travis/functions.sh
index a11b113e5..c4785fd1f 100755
--- a/.travis/functions.sh
+++ b/.travis/functions.sh
@@ -90,19 +90,20 @@ _upload_package() {
 
 _deploy() {
     if [ `_is_tagged` == "1" ]; then
-        if [ "${SPARK_RELEASE_NOTIFICATION_KEY}" != "" ] && [ "${SPARK_RELEASE_NOTIFICATION_HOST}" != "" ]; then
-            echo -e "${SPARK_RELEASE_NOTIFICATION_KEY}" > release_notify.key
-            chmod 400 release_notify.key
-            if ssh -o StrictHostKeyChecking=no -i release_notify.key "${SPARK_RELEASE_NOTIFICATION_HOST}" `_get_package_version` `_get_package_url`; then
-                echo; echo "OK"
-                return 0
-            else
-                echo; echo "ERROR"
-                return 1
-            fi
-        else
-            echo "skipping release notification because no SPARK_RELEASE_NOTIFICATION_KEY or SPARK_RELEASE_NOTIFICATION_HOST variables"
-        fi
+        echo "skipping release notification because we are using autoscaling groups and launch configurations now"
+        # if [ "${SPARK_RELEASE_NOTIFICATION_KEY}" != "" ] && [ "${SPARK_RELEASE_NOTIFICATION_HOST}" != "" ]; then
+        #     echo -e "${SPARK_RELEASE_NOTIFICATION_KEY}" > release_notify.key
+        #     chmod 400 release_notify.key
+        #     if ssh -o StrictHostKeyChecking=no -i release_notify.key "${SPARK_RELEASE_NOTIFICATION_HOST}" `_get_package_version` `_get_package_url`; then
+        #         echo; echo "OK"
+        #         return 0
+        #     else
+        #         echo; echo "ERROR"
+        #         return 1
+        #     fi
+        # else
+        #     echo "skipping release notification because no SPARK_RELEASE_NOTIFICATION_KEY or SPARK_RELEASE_NOTIFICATION_HOST variables"
+        # fi
     elif [ "${TRAVIS_BRANCH}" == "master" ] && [ "${TRAVIS_PULL_REQUEST}" == "false" ] && [ "${SLACK_API_TOKEN}" != "" ] && [ "${SPARK_DEPLOYMENT_HOST}" != "" ]; then
         if [ ! -f deployment.key ]; then
             echo -e "${SPARK_DEPLOYMENT_KEY}" > deployment.key
diff --git a/docs/development/releases-and-deployment.md b/docs/development/releases-and-deployment.md
index 8b7d97759..d8ec4568e 100644
--- a/docs/development/releases-and-deployment.md
+++ b/docs/development/releases-and-deployment.md
@@ -19,10 +19,58 @@
 * merge the change in package.json to master
 * don't forget to push!
 * now, you can publish the release in GitHub
-* Whenever a release is published, the production server is updated with the release name and package but does not deploy it
 * notification is sent to slack #sparksystemlog with the release name - notifying you that it's ready for deployment
 
-## Deploying to production
+## Deploying a published release
+* get the package_url from the slack notification in sparksystem-log channel
+* log-in to AWS
+* if migrations are needed
+  * open the latest spark-production launch configuration (e.g. spark-production-v2.2.2)
+  * copy the userdata script
+  * modify the DEPLOYMENT_PACKAGE_URL to the new url you got from sparksystem-log
+  * launch a new instance directly (without the autoscaling group) using this userdata script and based on the AMI of the launch configuration
+  * ssh into this new instance
+  * `cd /opt/spark/latest`
+  * `./knex migrate:latest`
+  * if migrations worked, you can terminate this instance
+* after migrations ran:
+  * duplicate the latest spark-production launch configuration
+  * edit the userdata and modify the DEPLOYMENT_PACKAGE_URL to the new url you got from sparksystem-log
+  * save the new launch configuration with the version in the launch configuration name
+  * edit the spark-production autoscaling group - to use the new launch configuration
+  * raise number of instances to launch new instances with the new version
+  * wait for new instance to be launched
+  * reduce number of instances back to normal
+
+## Deploying a hot-fix release
+(assuming you have Git remote named midburn which points to midburn repo)
+* make sure you have all tags from midburn
+  * `git fetch midburn`
+* go to the relevant release which is currently deployed on production
+  * `git checkout v2.2.2`
+* if there is no production branch - create a new one
+  * `git checkout -b production`
+  * `git push midburn production`
+* if there is already a production branch - best to delete and create again (assuming it's only used for hotfixes)
+  * `git branch -D production`
+  * `git checkout -b production`
+  * `git push --force midburn production`
+* start working on your feature from this production branch
+  * `git checkout -b your-feature-branch-name`
+* make you changes as you normally would, on your feature branch, push to you fork etc..
+* when you open the pull request, modify it to merge to production branch (instead of the default which is master branch)
+* once pull request was merged to production branch - 
+  * create a new draft release and modify it to be a release for production branch (instead of the default which is master)
+  * it's common practice to increment the path part of the version (the last part) when making a hotfix
+  * also, worth to note in the release notes that it's a hotfix release
+* publish the release and deploy normally as any other release
+
+**important**
+* after you deploy your hotfix, it's important to backport (merge) these changes to master as well
+* you can open another pull request from your feature branch - but this time for the default master branch
+
+## (deprecated) Deploying to production using slack
+**This procedure doesn't work any more, see above for deploying using the autoscaling group**
 * Assuming you user is authorized (see below how to authorize)
   * Type in slack: `/spark-deploy RELEASE_TAG_NAME`
   * where RELEASE_NAME is a published github release tag name
diff --git a/package.json b/package.json
index a382486e0..58288c050 100644
--- a/package.json
+++ b/package.json
@@ -23,7 +23,7 @@
     "//download": "download a deployment package from private slack url",
     "download": "curl -H \"Authorization: Bearer ${npm_config_token}\" -g \"${npm_config_url}\" -o \"${npm_config_file}\"",
     "//deploy": "prepare the directory of an extracted deployment package",
-    "deploy": "echo SPARK_DEPLOYMENT_TIME=\\\"$(date\"+%F%T\")\\\" >> .env",
+    "deploy": "echo SPARK_DEPLOYMENT_TIME=\\\"$(date \"+%F %T\")\\\" >> .env",
     "//lint": "runs static analysis using eslint",
     "lint": "./node_modules/.bin/eslint ."
   },