What is CI/CD? Why CI/CD Matters for Dev Teams

CI/CD can help your development team work more efficiently and deliver better software, and both agile and non-agile teams will find it helpful.

CI/CD offers many benefits to companies, from increased uptime and stability of infrastructure to improved automation and agility.

Its true power rests in the additional development and testing team initiative it allows. But what is it? And why should you care?

What Is CI/CD?

CI/CD (Continuous Integration/Continuous Delivery) is a software development process that involves automating the build, test, and deployment processes for software.

It’s a process that has been around in one form or another for quite some time. It’s also a practice that many modern companies and developers have adopted because of its efficiency and effectiveness.

The basic idea behind CI/CD is to ensure that software is always working correctly by testing it at every stage of development. This means that when someone changes the code (which can be as simple as adding in new functionality), they can run tests against it to make sure it works as intended before moving on to the next stage in development.

Why CI/CD Matters to Dev Teams

CI/CD can help dev teams deliver faster and more reliably, enabling them to get their code to production faster. And if it’s delivered faster, your team can deploy more frequently (sooner). That’s good because a software release tested in a staging environment is less likely to fail when deployed out into production than one that hasn’t.

CI/CD also helps teams deliver more securely because they have time to catch bugs before the code goes live. When you integrate security testing into your CI/CD process, you can automatically test every branch against multiple platforms and operating systems as part of every build. You don’t have to manually interfere or waste valuable developer time on repetitive tasks like running tests manually each time there’s an update.

How Has CI/CD Changed Software Development?

CI/CD has changed how software development teams work together by making it easier to track changes and add features. It also helps teams collaborate more effectively by providing easy access to the newest code versions. This can reduce errors and improve quality even further.

The concept of Continuous Integration (CI) is simple: every change in the codebase goes through automated testing so that you know if something breaks. With Continuous Delivery (CD), you can release your updates as soon as they pass the test, rather than having a separate release process.

The goal is to make deployments as simple and fast as possible so that developers can focus on building new features instead of worrying about deployment issues.

In addition to these benefits, CI/CD has also changed how developers think about maintenance and support for products. In previous eras of software development, it was common practice for companies to wait until after a product release before providing support or assistance with bug fixes or feature additions.

With CI/CD, you have access to real-time analytics data, so you can be proactive about building new features into your application before releasing it for public use – negating any need for post-launch support afterward.

Overall, CI/CD allows developers to spend less time on routine tasks like merging codebases or setting up environments—and more time working on innovative products that meet customer needs better than ever before.

How to Implement CI/CD for your Dev Team

Implementing CI/CD for your dev team is a process. It’s not something you can do overnight, but with the right mindset, tools, and process in place; you’ll be on your way to a continuous delivery pipeline that works for your team.

There are three key elements to consider when implementing CI/CD:

The team

The people behind the implementation will need to be willing to work together as a unit on this project. It takes collaboration across disciplines for this type of change management initiative to succeed – from product owners and testers to developers and IT operations staff. In addition, members of this group must have strong communication skills both outside their immediate sphere of influence (with other teams) and amongst themselves.

Processes

There are many different ways continuous integration can be implemented at a company level – choose one that works best with the existing infrastructure while still keeping up with today’s demands for speedier delivery cycles and higher quality products/services overall.

Documentation

Once specific processes are already in place, another critical component comes into play: documentation!

This is essential because documentation helps solidify standards, enabling better collaboration among stakeholders involved throughout the development cycle stages from start to finish, which will lead to faster turnaround times without sacrificing quality outcomes.

Moreover, documentation provides transparency concerning what happens behind the scenes during each iteration. This means everyone will know what’s happening, thus eliminating unnecessary duplication amongst roles being performed simultaneously during any given phase within project lifecycle phases.

The Benefits of Continuous Deployments

Continuous deployments are a boon for your development team and product. They bring the following benefits:

• Faster time to market: With CI/CD, you can ship new features faster. You don’t have to wait until the end of a project to get feedback on whether or not you’ve built something people want—you can get it early on in the process to make adjustments as needed before it’s too late.
• Faster feedback loops: You have quicker access to customer feedback and can use that information to make better business decisions when you have shorter release cycles.
• Faster product development: CI/CD makes it easier to develop new features because you can work on them in a rapid-fire fashion without having to wait for someone else’s code review or approval. It allows teams to innovate faster than ever before.
• Faster bug fixes: In traditional waterfall software development processes, it’s common to find bugs late when it’s too late to fix them without disrupting other aspects of the project—but with CI/CD, bugs get fixed earlier, so there’s less risk.
• Faster feature development: When you’re working on a large software product, it can be challenging to keep track of all the moving pieces and how they interact, especially when you’re trying to build something new or improve an existing feature. Continuous deployment tools allow developers to see what’s happening in real-time, so they don’t have any surprises later on down the road.
• Faster innovation: When you have better visibility into what’s going on with your codebase, you can see what changes are being made by who at any given time. It becomes much easier for everyone involved (including management) to understand where things stand in progress and what is needed next.

DevOps Is the Key to a Successful CI/CD Transition

If you want to see your project succeed, you need to bring together your software development and operations teams. DevOps helps you create this kind of team by fostering collaboration between different functions and roles within your organization.

In an era where organizations are increasingly adopting microservice architectures, DevOps can help teams work more efficiently by breaking down barriers between development and operations.

By focusing on communication rather than silos, DevOps encourages open communication between teams so that everyone has a better understanding of what’s happening across an organization.

Add CI/CD to Your DevOps Workflow

DevOps is all about collaboration and communication between the different stakeholders in a project, including product owners, developers, and the QA team. This can make development teams much more efficient, enabling them to move faster and get products into the hands of their users faster.

CI/CD is one of the essential tools in the DevOps toolbox, and it will be vital in helping development teams always deliver at the highest level of quality. It’s a win-win for everyone involved—users get great products, developers get to do what they love doing daily, and companies succeed with new products that can scale.

If you’re looking to learn more about CI/CD, or if you’d like to talk with someone about your challenges with DevOps and continuous delivery, we’d be happy to help. At Dev.co, we have experienced professionals that can help your teams automate their CI/CD workflows so they can move faster, innovate more, and ship quality software much faster. Talk to us today.

Ryan Nead

Ryan is the VP of Operations for DEV.co. He brings over a decade of experience in managing custom website and software development projects for clients small and large, managing internal and external teams on meeting and exceeding client expectations–delivering projects on-time and within budget requirements. Ryan is based in El Paso, Texas.