Over the past years, we have seen the drastic change in technology and how the software development companies have brought new tools and methodologies to improve and enhance their performance. Continuous production is one the latest of them which has spread like forest fire.

In simple terms, companies like ours have started a practice to deliver multiple software codes in one day. This was not possible until just a few years ago when one software development process took months or even a whole year. This new change was seen in the recent past and we have ever since tried to adopt it.

Big brands like Amazon, Facebook, etc. have taken up this practice and has threatened other development companies with the rapid development. Some methods to do this is by adopting DevOps, Continuous Integration and Continuous Delivery. We will talk about all this in detail further in the article.

Despite the benefits, some companies still deny the adoption of continuous delivery. They think that continuous delivery can have given disadvantages. But that will not be the case once you read this article.

Then and Now

Times have changed for software development. A year ago companies used to take a month or so to release one software whereas today they have successfully come to the point where software is released multiple time a day.

In a survey, it was found that a percentage of the total software development companies didn’t produce any software in the year 2014.

That is not the case now. The above chart clearly shows the rise in DevOps adoption in 2017 and ahead. In another survey, more recent, it was found that 57% of the companies in 2015 released softwares on a weekly basis. In that year they were expecting it to rise by 10% in 2016. And today in 2018, the practice has come to multiple software releases in one single day.

The rise was thought-provoking and we have found the reason behind it. Let’s look at them below:

Reasons Behind This Fast Paced Software Releases

• Business need:
  
  The need for faster delivery of products is increasing at an alarming rate. To stay in the competition, we had to deliver high quality products at a fast rate.
  As shown in the survey table below, high IT performers deliver multiple times a day where as medium and low IT performers deliver less than that.
  
  Gone are the days when software development took weeks or months. With the latest tech, companies like us are able to deliver software continues to meet the rising demand of the growing market.

 

• Advanced tech
  
  It is safe to say that with the advancement rate of tech, the future is looking quite tech dependent. With the help of this latest tech, we have come up with solutions to develop software at a faster rate. This also includes fewer mistakes while developing and delivering fast solutions.
  
  At Appinventiv, we use the latest tools to build solutions that are efficient, fast and cost-effective. Our main aim is to build solutions in less time using fewer development steps. Continuous integration, version control, automation, etc. are some of the practices we follow for the same. 

• Consistency results in better automation
  
  As a popular saying goes “Practice makes you perfect” so does the consistent performance. When the production is continuous automation becomes better and better. This also helps in the betterment of performance and increase in speed while reduction of errors with every new release.
  
  We, at Appinventiv, brings less chances of failure of a project by being consistent. If a project fails, the cost of recovery is quite high and no company can afford to bear such huge losses. Even though being consistent is difficult at times, we practice it regularly to improve the quality of work as well as speed up the process.

• Big companies are doing it
  
  When big companies are doing it, small companies tend to follow them. The fear that the big players will take away the customers is what drives the medium and small software development companies. One of the biggest mistakes some companies make is that they give all their time to designing which leads to either a delay in the delivery or compromise with the infrastructure of the software.
  
  Here is how the big players are doing it:
  
  Amazon– releases codes every 11.7 seconds on an average.
  Facebook– moved their entire infrastructure to a configuration management platform.
  Etsy– releases 50 times a day to it production resulting in less disturbance.
  Adobe– uses end to end DevOps platform to automate
  Netflix– netflix coders released coders multiple times a day.
  
  Our developers give priority to the infrastructure of the applications and then move onto the designing.

• Reduces waste
  
  As mentioned above, releasing software more frequently reduces chances of error which prevents the occurrence of recovery cost. This is done by using ‘dev development’ which removes the integration and testing phases that follow the development process.
  
  By using the continuous delivery practices, we reduce costs in the development process. Even though it costs investment in the beginning, we look at the long term benefits. The team, technology and the skill sets needed to be able to perform is where we invest.

How are we doing it?

To get this long process done faster and without errors, we have come up with fantastic solutions. So, without any delay let’s get to them:

DevOps

To empower integration, collaboration and automation among the software developers, DevOps was created. To enhance the speed and quality of the final product, we perform IT operations. DevOps is basically a combination of development and operations which means that both development and IT operations should work in a combined way to deliver products at high velocity.

DevOps is the most preferred cultural practice which helped the continuous delivery norm come into existence. This not only encourages teamwork in organisations but also has become one of the most wanted skill set in the development market.

Continuous Integration

Continuous integration is a process where our developers have to put codes into a shared repository multiple time a day. The repository also runs automatic tests to identify and find any errors or missing codes. Continuous integration is cheaper than less frequent integration. The reason being, it will reduce a gap between integration which will help in detecting any errors if occurred.

Not integrating continuously may cause difficulty in finding errors which can slow down a project or even make it past the deadline. Some benefits of continuous integration are:

• No long and complicated integrations
• Allows greater communication
• Early identification of errors and defects
• Spend less time fixing and more time building

By continuous integration, we make sure that the codes put in by our developers test themselves and make sure it works to fulfil the purpose. These tests are called unit tests and when they are approved green signal is given which means we can release the codes successfully.

Continuous Delivery (CD)

Continuous Delivery is an extension of Continuous Integration. It works to make sure that any changes made to the system can be released at any point with a press of a button. This allows the developers at Appinventiv create a software that matches the client’s demands for which changes can be made easily.

However, CD also has challenges which makes it hard to implement them in the process. The good thing is that these challenges can be overcome. CD is the way of releasing in a more risk free way and any developer who has worked with it knows how beneficial it is.

Continuous Delivery makes sure that the codes are prepared and tested automatically and can be released at any time. It has the following benefits:

• Improves productivity of the developer
• Fast delivery of updates
• Finds and fixes bugs quicker
• Automates software release process

What is in the Future?

The future is DevOps and Continuous Delivery. We have adopted these two practices and are already seeing improvements in automation, innovation and have a better feedback system. This is also enhancing the client experience which in return is increasing the sales and strengthening our position in the market.

It might be apt to say that the companies that will adopt these practices can only survive in the future market. The demand is clearly increasing for error free, quick and flexible way of development.

If companies follow the above points then they will see the same benefits that we have seen:

• Less waste of time fixing the errors and more time on innovating the designs and features.
• End result is always a high quality product that matches the client’s demands since there is continuous involvement of the client’s opinions.
• DevOps cultural practice will help companies build strong teams that work together smartly.

But above all, the biggest advantage is in competition. Very few companies are able to follow this for the reason of lack of the skilled team, awareness on the subject or simply because they can’t manage the work. This gives the edge to the competitors.

If you are, as company, willing to adopt the DevOps culture you can deliver faster, develop better and reduce chances of error.

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