Continuous Integration (CI): An aspect of the Continuous Delivery Pipeline where new functionality is developed, tested, integrated, and validated for deployment and release.
Continuous Delivery Pipeline: Comprises four parts:
Continuous Exploration (CE)
Continuous Integration (CI)
Continuous Deployment (CD)
Release on Demand
Importance of Continuous Integration
CI is critical for improving quality, reducing risk, and ensuring a sustainable development pace.
Allows for potentially deployable systems even during development.
Challenges arise in multi-platform systems and systems involving software, hardware, components, and services.
A balanced approach is needed for building quality and receiving fast feedback.
Easier to implement in purely software-based solutions.
More complex systems require balancing economic trade-offs between frequency, scope of integration, and testing.
The Four Activities of Continuous Integration
Develop:
Implement stories
Commit code and components to version control
Build:
Create deployable binaries
Merge development branches into the trunk
Test End-to-End:
Validate the solution comprehensively
Stage:
Host and validate solutions in a staging environment before production
Additional Insights
Continuous integration is critical in Agile Release Trains (ART).
Frequent integration and testing are essential for fully validating solutions.
For complex systems, reference to Enterprise Solution Delivery for further guidance is suggested.
The technique supports a fast, reliable, and sustainable development process.