After over a decade developing and testing complex web and mobile applications on thousands of device and browser combinations, I‘ve witnessed firsthand how much delivery pipelines have evolved.
What used to be a manual, multi-week slog of coordinating code drops across siloed teams has transformed into a sophisticated automated system for accelerating innovation. When well-architected, today‘s deployment pipelines enable companies to sprint ahead of the competition by unlocking two superpowers – velocity and safety.
In this comprehensive guide, we will unpack everything you need to know to build a world-class deployment pipeline, from goals and benefits to common pitfalls and governance tips. Whether you are just exploring DevOps pipelines or looking to refine an existing one, let‘s examine how to release software better and faster than ever before!
What is a Deployment Pipeline?
At a basic level, a deployment pipeline automates the journey of code changes from version control commit to production deployment in a consistent, efficient manner. But the benefits stretch much further:
- Accelerate new feature delivery to market
- Reduce risk of defects and failures
- Improve software quality and stability
- Promote visibility, shared ownership and collaboration
Rather than a chaotic sequence of manual hand-offs between siloed teams and environments, the pipeline forms an end-to-end automated assembly line. Code flows rapidly through successive validations while deficiencies surface quickly, preventing downstream disruption.
Companies embracing pipelines often double or even triple their application release frequency compared to manual deployments. Meanwhile, change failure rates that used to hover around a risky 35% now drop below 15% for top performers.
As an industry veteran, I cannot overstate how profoundly pipelines have transformed software delivery. But it‘s important to adopt them judiciously, not just for automation‘s sake. When architected thoughtfully, they strike the ideal balance between safety and speed.
Diving Into the Stages of an Effective Pipeline
Now that we‘ve aligned on the immense potential of pipelines, let‘s explore the key stages:
Commit Code
It all starts with a developer committing a code change into version control. This triggers the automated pipeline workflow to kick-off. Decoupling deployment procedures from code check-in fosters rapid development velocity.
Build Artifacts
Next, the pipeline compile code changes and constructs executable artifacts and images to facilitate deployment downstream. Storing these centrally enables easy distribution and rollback.
Run Automated Tests
This is where pipelines truly shine! Automated testing validates correctness, security, compliance and more at breathtaking speeds. Test automation is arguably the highest leverage activity for accelerating releases. Companies with strong testing cultures deploy 200x more frequently with five times fewer failures than peers.
Review & Approve
Before deploying to production, changes undergo final approvals. Manual checks & balances reduce risk despite extensive automation.
Deploy to Production
After all validations pass successfully, code releases to customers using mature rollout techniques like canary launches. This capped approach segments risk.
Monitor Performance
With changes live, granular monitoring provides fast feedback on quality. Quick detection facilitates rapid recovery.
Now that we‘ve covered the primary stages, let‘s dive deeper into unlocking the dual superpowers of velocity and safety by building a robust pipeline.
Choosing the Right Pipeline Tools
The first step lies in assembling an integrated toolchain that spans critical capability areas while avoiding needless customization.
Version Control System
Git and GitHub have emerged as the dominant platforms for version control and code collaboration. The distributed model aligns nicely with pipeline demands.
Build/Testing Automation
Jenkins dominates as the de facto standard for build automation and CI/CD orchestration, while CircleCI clears leaders pack in the cloud-native realm. Both integrate smoothly with source code tools.
Artifact Management
Solutions like JFrog Artifactory and Sonatype Nexus provide scalable binary lifecycle management with universal artifact repository technology.
Infrastructure Provisioning
Hashicorp Terraform leads the charge for codifying infrastructure provisioning through Infrastructure-as-Code techniques. CloudFormation offers similar capability for AWS specifically.
This list just scratches the surface but provides a representative sample. Avoid over-customization by leveraging platforms and extensions before building proprietary solutions. Next let‘s explore how to enable the velocity/safety superpowers.
Accelerating Velocity Through Automation
The foremost priority involves maximizing flow. This requires ruthlessly eliminating bottlenecks through automation. Let‘s examine tactics:
Automate Testing Feverishly
Building a culture obsessed with test automation accelerates detection and recovery. Unit test coverage should exceed 90% while functional UI testing scales exponentially. Teams should run on the order of thousands of automated browser tests daily. One company I partnered with improved their test automation coverage from just 35% originally to over 85% within a year. The ROI was game-changing: 4X more frequent releases with 50% fewer defects.
Standardize Environments
Variation across environments causes substantial delays. Modern infrastructure provisioning tools like Terraform facilitate consistency by managing environments-as-code. Mirror staging closely to production.
Increase Small Batch Changes
Despite extensive automation, reduce batch sizes through continuous delivery techniques. Smaller changes equate to lower risk releases. This also compression feedback loops to accelerate learning.
Shift Security Left
Building security validations into pipelines themselves rather than just pre-production uncovers issues earlier when less costly to address. Automate vulnerability scanning, malware detection, secrets management, and compliance checks.
Promote Progressive Experimentation
While we want to release often, it still merits proceeding judiciously. Uncapped changes risk significant blast radius. instead, leverage controlled exposure techniques like canary launches, dark launches, or feature flags to reduce risk. This strikes a balance between speed and safety.
Enabling Safety Through Rigor
While the accelerator remains floored, pipelines must also instill tremendous rigor to prevent dysfunction. Let‘s explore leading practices for quality and risk reduction.
Implement Approval Gates
Despite extensive automation, manual approval checks before production deployment save the day. Mandate sign-off from dedicated product and operations stakeholders to reduce communication disconnects.
Codify Rollbacks
Failure is inevitable. Minimize recovery time by investing heavily in rollback automation. Rollbacks should execute quickly, reliably, and free of blame.
Metric Monitoring & Alerting
Keep a pulse on application health through granular monitoring and alerts for key operational metrics. Early detection of anomalies minimizes impact.
Audit Everything
Log pipeline activity extensively. Audit logs provide breadcrumbs when troubleshooting but also help identify opportunities for improvement proactively.
Test Production Readiness
While pre-production testing offers confidence, the acid test comes with real customer usage at scale in production. Adopt maturity models to validate production readiness before advancing major version changes.
Champion Security Hygiene
From inspecting dependencies to secrets management, security cannot waive. Automate security scans and policies enforcement checks in the pipeline across the entire software lifecycle.
Maturing Your Pipeline Practice Over Time
Building a robust pipeline provides immense initial return but also constitutes an ongoing journey. Let‘s shift gears to maturing capabilities over time.
Gather Pipeline Metrics
"What gets measured gets improved" rings true. Identify key performance indicators like lead time, change failure rate, and deployment frequency and track religiously. Adding context motivates desired behaviors.
Promote Shared Ownership
Pipeline governance extends beyond any one team. Foster participative design and shared responsibility between development, QA, operations, and infosec.
Tame Pipeline Sprawl
As solution complexity grows with microservices, avoiding downstream pipeline entanglement proves challenging. Institute Standards to tame needless diversity.
Rightsize Governance
Strike a balance between essential guardrails and cumbersome bureaucracy that throttles innovation. Align controls to risk appetite.
Automate Risk Reduction Checks
Promote compliance, security, and operational best practices by codifying validations into pipeline stages. Stop defects early and often!
