The State of Continuous Delivery Explained
Continuous delivery (CD) is a software development practice that enables developers to release small but frequent software updates reliably and safely. Closely linked to the broader DevOps cultural movement, CD consists of a set of practices that aim to automate and streamline the software delivery process. These practices, in turn, allow developer teams to innovate faster by collecting regular user feedback and prioritizing the product features- and fixes- that matter.
But to what extent, really, have developers embraced continuous delivery practices and the DevOps culture to increase the effectiveness of their software development and release process?
We created a "State of Continuous Report" report, commissioned by the Continuous Delivery Foundation, to explore the current state of the CD developer ecosystem and how this has evolved over the past year and a half.
The findings in this report, are based on data shared by the members of our Developer Nation Community.
You can read the full report here
Here are the key takeaways:
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As of Q1 2022, less than a quarter (23%) of developers are not involved in any DevOps-related activities, indicating continued growth in the adoption of practices that increase an organization's ability to deliver software at high velocity.
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47% of developers use either continuous integration or deployment, but only one in five use both continuous integration and deployment approaches to automate all building, testing, and deployment of code to production.
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We’ve seen an increase in DevOps adoption in every development sector. Mobile app development has now even leapfrogged desktop development, such is its shift in embracing DevOps approaches.
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Medium-sized businesses and large enterprises are experiencing the most significant growth in DevOps adoption.
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Large enterprises are becoming the most significant beneficiaries of DevOps practices. In large enterprises, the proportion of low performers for lead time for code changes has dropped significantly from 34% to 24% in the last six months, while the proportion of top performers has also increased from 13% to 21%.
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Large enterprise developers also see a significant improvement in the proportion taking less than one hour to restore service - now at 22% - and in the proportion taking more than one week - falling from 23% to 18%.
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There remains a strong correlation between speed and stability metrics, rather than one compromising the other.
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Adoption of modern backend technologies such as microservices, containers, and Kubernetes generally correlates with improved performance for lead time for code changes and time to restore service but fails to significantly improve deployment frequency.
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Those using containers are twice as likely to have lead times of less than one day, compared to those not working with container technologies. Likewise, Kubernetes users are one-third more likely to be top performers than those who do not use the technology.
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There is a strong correlation between the breadth of individual developers’ involvement with DevOps technologies and their likelihood of being among the top performers in terms of lead time for code changes, deployment frequency, and time to restore service. The more DevOps technologies a developer uses, the more likely they are to report improved delivery performance
Also published here.