> How did you go from "manual upload to file server" to Docker+Gitlab?

When I learned what I said: it takes little time to set it up and you reap the benefits. If you don’t know how to use it then it’ll take some time to learn, in such case I see value going with whatever you know.

>We've been shipping MVPs long before those were a thing.

That reasoning can be used with almost any technology and doesn’t tell anything.

>./deploy.sh runs the commands you used to run manually.

You went from “manually copying” to having a script with reproducible steps. You’re closer to CD than what you were thinking.

I think the rest of the comment doesn't need to be addressed.