Continuous Delivery Pattern
Continuous Delivery (CD) is a software development practice where code changes are automatically prepared for production release. According to DORA research, it's one of the key capabilities that drives high performance in technology organizations.
Core Principles
Principle | Description | Implementation |
---|---|---|
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Work in small batches with short-lived branches | Git workflow with feature flags |
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Automate build, test, and deployment processes | Jenkins, GitHub Actions |
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Implement automated testing at all levels | Selenium, JUnit, Cypress |
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Use Git as single source of truth | ArgoCD, Flux |
Implementation Guide
1. Version Control Practices
# Trunk-based development workflow
git checkout -b feature/small-change
# Make small, incremental changes
git commit -am "feat: add new feature behind flag"
git push origin feature/small-change
# Merge to trunk within 24 hours
2. Deployment Pipeline
# Example Jenkins Pipeline
pipeline {
agent any
stages {
stage('Build') {
steps {
sh 'make build'
}
}
stage('Test') {
parallel {
stage('Unit') {
steps { sh 'make test-unit' }
}
stage('Integration') {
steps { sh 'make test-integration' }
}
}
}
stage('Deploy') {
steps {
sh 'make deploy'
}
}
}
}
3. Feature Flags
public class FeatureFlags {
private static final String FLAG_NEW_FEATURE = "new-feature";
public boolean isEnabled(String flag) {
return LaunchDarkly.client().boolVariation(flag, user, false);
}
}
Key Metrics
Based on DORA research, track these metrics:
Metric | Elite Performance | Implementation |
---|---|---|
Deployment Frequency | Multiple deploys per day | deployment_frequency = deploys / time_period |
Lead Time for Changes | Less than one hour | lead_time = time_to_production - commit_time |
Change Failure Rate | 0-15% | failure_rate = failed_deploys / total_deploys |
Time to Restore | Less than one hour | mttr = restore_time - failure_time |
Best Practices
1. Build Process
- Use deterministic builds
- Cache dependencies
- Implement parallel processing
2. Testing Strategy
- Maintain test pyramid
- Automate all tests
- Include security testing
3. Deployment Process
# Example ArgoCD Application
apiVersion: argoproj.io/v1alpha1
kind: Application
metadata:
name: fawkes-app
spec:
source:
repoURL: https://github.com/paruff/fawkes.git
path: kubernetes
targetRevision: HEAD
destination:
server: https://kubernetes.default.svc
namespace: production
Common Anti-Patterns
❌ Avoid These Practices: - Long-lived feature branches - Manual deployment steps - Infrequent integration - Environment-specific builds
✅ Instead Do This: - Merge to trunk daily - Automate everything - Practice continuous integration - Build once, deploy many times
Tools Integration
Category | Tools | Purpose |
---|---|---|
CI/CD | Jenkins, GitHub Actions | Pipeline automation |
Version Control | Git | Source code management |
Testing | Selenium, JUnit | Automated testing |
Deployment | Spinnaker, ArgoCD | Deployment automation |
Monitoring | Prometheus, Grafana | Performance tracking |