Continuous Delivery

Continuous Delivery is an approach to software development that focuses on working so that software is always in a releasable state.

It is now practiced by many of the leading software producers in the world in a wide variety of industries. Continuous Delivery is now widely seen as the "state of the art" for producing high quality software efficiently.

It is an extension of the ideas of Extreme Programming described by Kent Beck in his influential book of the same name.

Continuous Delivery works by optimising for fast, high-quality Feedback, using high-levels of automation to achieve a repeatable, reliable approach to software delivery.

The phrase "Continuous Delivery" was used to describe the first principle of the Agile Manifesto which stated:

"Our highest priority is the early, and continuous delivery of valuable software".

The Continuous Delivery Book popularized this radical approach. At the heart of the book, is the concept of the Deployment Pipeline which organizes the development approach allowing the process to be optimized to maximize the ability of teams to create high quality software, quickly.