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2024

Engineering, Product management

Continuous Delivery

A software development practice that enables teams to rapidly and reliably deliver software by automating the build, test, and deployment process.

Also called: Continuous Deployment, Continuous Integration, Automated Deployment, Automated Delivery, Automated Release Management, Automated Software Delivery, Automated Testing, and Automation Pipeline

See also: Continuous Discovery, Feature Flag

Relevant metrics: Deployment Frequency, Lead Time for Changes, Change Failure Rate, Mean Time to Restore Service, and Time to Detect Problems

In this article

What is Continuous Delivery

Continuous Delivery is a software development practice that enables teams to rapidly and reliably deliver software to customers. It is a process that automates the delivery of software from development to production, allowing teams to quickly and easily deploy changes to their applications.

Automate Everything!

Continuous Delivery is a key component of DevOps, as it allows teams to quickly and reliably deploy changes to their applications. Continuous Delivery is a process that involves automating the delivery of software from development to production, allowing teams to quickly and easily deploy changes to their applications. It involves automating the build, test, and deployment processes, ensuring that changes are tested and deployed quickly and reliably. Continuous Delivery also involves automating the release process, ensuring that changes are released to customers quickly and reliably.

Where did Continuous Delivery come from?

The term was first coined by Jez Humble and David Farley in their book “Continuous Delivery: Reliable Software Releases Through Build, Test, and Deployment Automation”, published in 2010. The book explains how to achieve continuous delivery through automation, version control, and testing. The authors argue that continuous delivery is essential for organizations to remain competitive in today’s rapidly changing software landscape.

Achieving Optimal Software Delivery

Continuous Delivery is an ideal solution for organizations that need to quickly and reliably deliver software to their customers. By automating the process of building, testing, and deploying software, organizations can reduce the time and cost associated with software development and delivery. Additionally, Continuous Delivery allows organizations to quickly respond to customer feedback and make changes to their software in a timely manner.

Continuous Delivery also helps organizations ensure that their software is of the highest quality. By automating the process of building, testing, and deploying software, organizations can ensure that their software is of the highest quality and meets the needs of their customers. Additionally, Continuous Delivery allows organizations to quickly identify and address any issues that may arise during the development and delivery process.

A key component of DevOps

Continuous Delivery is a key component of DevOps, as it enables organizations to quickly and reliably deliver software to their customers. By automating the build, test, and deployment processes, organizations can ensure that their software is always up-to-date and that any changes are tested and deployed in a consistent manner. Additionally, Continuous Delivery allows organizations to quickly respond to customer feedback and make changes to their software in a timely manner.

De-risking software releases

Continuous Delivery also helps organizations reduce the risk of software releases, as all changes are tested and deployed in a consistent manner. This helps to ensure that any changes to the codebase are tested and deployed in a safe and reliable manner. Additionally, Continuous Delivery helps organizations reduce the time it takes to deploy software, as all changes are tested and deployed in a timely manner.

Continuous Delivery and Feature Flags: Accelerating Software Development

Feature Flags, also known as Feature Toggles or Feature Flippers, are a technique used in software development to selectively enable or disable a feature at runtime. They allow developers to release new features to a small subset of users for testing and feedback before making the feature available to everyone. This approach allows developers to test new features in a live environment without the risk of disrupting the user experience for everyone. Feature Flags also provide the ability to turn features on or off for different users based on criteria such as user roles, geolocation, or device type.

When used together, Continuous Delivery and Feature Flags provide a powerful toolset for software development. By deploying new features incrementally and selectively through Feature Flags, development teams can ensure that new features are tested thoroughly in a production environment before being released to everyone. This approach reduces the risk of introducing bugs or performance issues and allows teams to quickly respond to feedback from users or stakeholders.

In addition, Feature Flags can also be used to manage the rollout of complex or high-risk features, allowing development teams to gradually introduce new functionality to users and monitor the impact on system performance and user engagement. This approach allows teams to safely experiment with new features and gather data before making decisions on whether to scale or remove a feature.

Continuous Delivery best practices

Here are some best practices for implementing Continuous Delivery in your software development process:

  • Automate Everything. Automation is a key principle of Continuous Delivery. Automating the build, test, and deployment processes enables teams to release software updates more quickly, efficiently, and consistently. This includes automating the building of artifacts, the execution of unit tests, integration tests, and acceptance tests, as well as the deployment and release processes.
  • Use Version Control. Version control systems like Git allow teams to track changes to code, collaborate more effectively, and ensure that only the latest version of code is deployed to production. It’s important to use version control consistently and to adopt a branching strategy that supports CD, such as Gitflow or trunk-based development.
  • Practice Continuous Integration. Continuous Integration (CI) involves integrating code changes into a shared repository on a regular basis. CI helps to catch integration issues early in the development cycle and ensures that code changes are integrated smoothly into the larger codebase. It’s important to run automated tests as part of the CI process to catch errors and regressions early.
  • Implement Feature Flags. Feature Flags, also known as Feature Toggles or Feature Flippers, enable teams to selectively enable or disable features at runtime. By adopting Feature Flags, teams can release new features to a small subset of users for testing and feedback before making the feature available to everyone. This approach allows teams to test new features in a live environment without the risk of disrupting the user experience for everyone.
  • Monitor and Measure. Continuous Delivery enables teams to release software updates more frequently and with less risk, but it’s important to monitor the performance and behavior of applications in production to catch errors and regressions that may arise. Monitoring tools like New Relic or Datadog can provide real-time visibility into application performance, enabling teams to proactively identify and fix issues.
  • Embrace DevOps Culture. Continuous Delivery is not just a set of technical practices but also a cultural shift in software development. DevOps culture emphasizes collaboration, communication, and feedback between development, operations, and other stakeholders. Adopting a DevOps mindset can help teams to streamline the software delivery process and improve overall organizational efficiency.

By automating the build, test, and deployment processes, adopting version control, practicing continuous integration, implementing Feature Flags, monitoring and measuring, and embracing DevOps culture, teams can deliver software updates more quickly, efficiently, and consistently. By following these best practices, development teams can ensure that their software is responsive to user needs and remains competitive in a rapidly changing digital landscape.

Advantages of Implementing Continuous Delivery

Continuous Delivery offers a number of benefits to organizations, including faster time to market, improved customer satisfaction, and increased agility. It also helps to reduce the risk of software releases, as teams can quickly and reliably deliver updates to customers. Additionally, Continuous Delivery helps to reduce the cost of software development, as teams can quickly and reliably deliver updates without having to spend time and resources on manual testing and deployment.

  • Increased Efficiency. Continuous delivery allows for faster and more efficient delivery of software, as it automates the process of building, testing, and releasing software. This reduces the time and effort required to deploy new features and bug fixes, allowing teams to focus on more important tasks.
  • Improved Quality. Continuous delivery ensures that software is tested and released in a consistent manner, which helps to reduce the risk of errors and bugs. This helps to ensure that the software is of a higher quality and is more reliable.
  • Increased Visibility. Continuous delivery provides visibility into the development process, allowing teams to track progress and identify potential issues quickly. This helps to ensure that the software is released on time and meets the desired quality standards.
  • Reduced Costs. By automating the process of building, testing, and releasing software, continuous delivery helps to reduce the costs associated with manual processes. This helps to ensure that teams are able to deliver software faster and more cost-effectively.

Challenges of Implementing Continuous Delivery

Despite the many benefits of Continuous Delivery, there are also some challenges that organizations must be aware of. These include the need for a strong DevOps culture, the need for automation, and the need for a reliable infrastructure. Additionally, teams must ensure that they have the right processes and tools in place to ensure that software updates are delivered quickly and reliably.

  • Ensuring Quality. Continuous delivery requires a high level of quality assurance, as any changes made to the codebase must be tested and verified before they can be released. This can be a challenge for teams that lack the resources or expertise to properly test their code.
  • Automation. Automation is essential for successful continuous delivery, as manual processes can slow down the delivery process and introduce errors. Teams must invest in the necessary automation tools and processes to ensure that their code is properly tested and deployed.
  • Security. Security is a major concern when it comes to continuous delivery, as any vulnerabilities in the codebase can be quickly exploited. Teams must ensure that their code is secure and that any changes are properly tested and verified before they are released.
  • Scalability. As the codebase grows, teams must ensure that their continuous delivery process is able to scale with it. This can be a challenge, as teams must invest in the necessary tools and processes to ensure that their code is properly tested and deployed.
Relevant questions to ask
  • What are the risks associated with Continuous Delivery?
    Hint The risks associated with Continuous Delivery include the potential for errors in the code, the potential for security vulnerabilities, and the potential for system downtime.
  • What are the benefits of Continuous Delivery?
    Hint The benefits of Continuous Delivery include faster time to market, improved quality, and reduced risk.
  • What are the technical requirements for Continuous Delivery?
    Hint The technical requirements for Continuous Delivery include a continuous integration server, automated testing, and a deployment pipeline.
  • What are the organizational requirements for Continuous Delivery?
    Hint The organizational requirements for Continuous Delivery include a clear understanding of the process, a commitment to collaboration, and a culture of continuous improvement.
  • What are the security requirements for Continuous Delivery?
    Hint The security requirements for Continuous Delivery include secure coding practices, secure deployment processes, and secure infrastructure.
  • What are the testing requirements for Continuous Delivery?
    Hint The testing requirements for Continuous Delivery include automated unit tests, integration tests, and performance tests.
  • What are the monitoring requirements for Continuous Delivery?
    Hint The monitoring requirements for Continuous Delivery include monitoring of the system performance, application performance, and user experience.
  • What are the maintenance requirements for Continuous Delivery?
    Hint The maintenance requirements for Continuous Delivery include regular updates, bug fixes, and security patches.

You might also be interested in reading up on:

People who talk about the topic of Continuous Delivery on Twitter
Relevant books on the topic of Continuous Delivery
  • Continuous Delivery: Reliable Software Releases through Build, Test, and Deployment Automation by Jez Humble and David Farley (2010)
  • Continuous Delivery and DevOps: A Quickstart Guide by Paul Swartout (2018)
  • Continuous Delivery: Reliable Software Releases through Build, Test, and Deployment Automation by Matthew Skelton and Manuel Pais (2018)
  • Continuous Delivery: Reliable Software Releases through Build, Test, and Deployment Automation by Steve Smith and Dan North (2016)

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