Six Highly Effective Principles of Continuous Delivery
Continuous Delivery (CD) builds a stable and streamlined automated software release process. This process includes a feedback loop. Through this, users give their feedback. Developers improve and incorporate the feedback into the next release.
Core Principles of Continuous Delivery
The continuous Delivery method focuses on quickly delivering quality software to the end-users. Automation encourages developers to concentrate on their core work of building code and reliable software. Here are six core principles of CD:
1. Reliability
Every software building process has a development lifecycle. In the traditional system, there were some tasks in lifecycle ‘playbooks’ that were performed manually. Now, these tasks are automated. Committing to automation ensures they are repeatable. Consistently running the playbooks between environments ensures reliability.
2. Automation
Automation is the crucial principle of CD. Time is expensive. That is why businesses should utilize it most effectively. Implementing automation reduces the time of doing repeatable tasks. Developers do not need to work on committing the code. DevOps team needs to automate the testing, releasing, and configuration process to get the best result.
3. Version Control
Version control is a must in the software industry. It makes the members more efficient to work together on a shared codebase. Git is the most effective version control tool for continuous delivery. It also has an ‘undo’ version. This system includes controlling configuration, scripts, database, and documentation.
4. Build-in Quality
CD ensures quality in every stage of the release pipeline. The feedback loop of CD does multiple re-examinations of the quality. The test system is automated and gives bug-free software to deliver to the end-user. It also considers analytics, performance monitoring, and automated testing infrastructure.
5. Responsibility
In CD, everyone is responsible for ensuring the high-quality of the software. The members need to focus on the deployment process and quality assurance. They re-check it at every stage to catch failures before release.
6. Release
The core task of software industries is to deliver software to the customers in real-time. If developers make the software but do not release it on time, it will lose its value. In CD, the word ‘done’ means the whole process is complete, and the software is ready to release to the customer’s hand. By following the principle of release, the CD process completes, and customers get the software.
After releasing, members get feedback and take action to release the next software. CD improves the overall team communication and efficiency across the organization. By implementing it, organizations can make the process transparent and attract more customers by providing high-quality software.