What is continuous delivery software development and why should you care?

Software development methodology might not sound sexy, but it has massive implications for how mobile-enabled companies do business (which is basically every successful business on earth at this point). How you or your developer operates within the development space impacts everything — time to market, cost of delivery, functionality, features, everything. So let us introduce you to the newest, biggest development in development:

Continuous delivery.

Throughout the past decade, software developers have generally moved away from a waterfall methodology toward agile. Instead of waiting for everything in one stage of development to reach completion before moving onto the next stage, agile prized flexibility, speed and iteration, allowing development shops to organize outstanding work into sprint efforts — short and finite periods of exertion closely tracked and built upon from one sprint to the next.

The mobile landscape definitely lends itself to agile development more so than waterfall. Nimbleness, adaptability, and the ability to pivot? Hallmarks of mobile apps; all better served by agile.

Well mobile lovers, welcome to continuous delivery — agile on speed.

Continuous delivery is the next step in the evolution of mobile development and delivery. Instead of organizing all the work into sprints, developing all the features of the app piecemeal over time, and then eventually setting them all into a live environment all at once, continuous delivery allows next generation solutions providers to push individual new features to a live environment at the push of a button almost anywhere along the project timeline.

Some hallmarks of continuous delivery:

• Continuous delivery prioritizes keeping software deployable in favor of building new features (new features aren’t ignored by any stretch, it’s just more important to keep the software deployable than it is to integrate any one new feature at any one point in time).
• It prizes real world feedback and true use cases over predicted ones.
• It allows developers to excise wasted effort on unnecessary or unwanted features — with constant real-world feedback, developers can move on from features or functionalities that aren’t worthwhile or necessary.
• If done correctly, much of the testing and quality assurance is automated, meaning the entire process takes much less time.
• Drastically faster time to market: By not having to wait for every single feature to be completed before deploying live and getting feedback, continuous delivery allows companies to get minimum viable product to market much faster
• Reduced bugs: By putting the app into live environments at every stage along the way, it’s much easier to weed out bugs with a larger, invested user base working with the app constantly
• Greater reliability: With continuous delivery, gone are the days when updating your codebase with new features crashes other features or different parts of your app. continuous delivery gives developers the freedom to create new features without worrying about down-the-line crashes.
• Truer tracking: Clients never have to trust a developer’s word that a feature is ready and operational again — with the app always live, a new feature push can be tested by every stakeholder at every step throughout the engagement
• Happier clients: with greater transparency, speed and efficiency, clients get what they actually want, faster and cheaper than ever before.

So how does a mobile solutions provider achieve continuous delivery?

First, they have to be in lockstep with every stakeholder involved in delivery. Only through true collaboration can a radical ideal like continuous delivery take flight.

And second, the solutions provider has to automate every possible part of the delivery process.

Not convinced? Contact us — we’ll make a convert out of you.