Continuous Delivery: Reliable Software Releases through Build, Test, and Deployment Automation

by David Farley

Developers, testers, and operations teams no longer need to rely on ticketing systems and email threads to get builds deployed so they can gather feedback on the production readiness of the system. Testers can decide which version of the system they want in their test environment without needing to be technical experts themselves, nor relying on the availability of such expertise to make the deployment. Since deployment is simple, they can change the build under test more often, perhaps returning to an earlier version of the system to compare its behavior with that of the latest version when they find a particularly interesting bug. Sales people can access the latest version of the application with the killer feature that will swing the deal with a client. There are more subtle changes too. In our experience, people begin to relax a little. They perceive the project as a whole as less risky—mainly because it is less risky.