When you invest in custom software, you want a solution that fits your business, is delivered quickly, and adapt as your needs evolve. You also want to stay involved throughout the whole process, with visibility and collaboration with your development team.
That’s where Continuous Integration and Continuous Delivery/Deployment (CI/CD) comes in. CI/CD is a development approach that works especially well alongside the agile project management methodology.
What is CI/CD?
CI/CD works best with projects that follow an agile approach because it’s designed for iterative development, and CI/CD is a way of automating how software is built, tested, and released.
Instead of waiting for one big release, CI/CD allows updates to be delivered in smaller, manageable sprints. Each change is tested and released when it’s ready, allowing your software to improve without disruption.
Since agile is built around short sprints, regular feedback, and continuous improvement, CI/CD helps make sure new features and functionality are deployed to your users quickly and seamlessly.
Here’s how Agile and CI/CD work together
In simple terms, agile is the way you manage a project, and CI/CD is the way your team builds and releases the software.
By using them together, they create a development process that is flexible, efficient, and focused on delivering value. For example:
- Agile encourages frequent delivery of working software
- CI/CD makes that delivery fast, smooth, and low risk
- Agile relies on regular feedback
- CI/CD allows teams to act on that feedback by releasing regular updates.
Benefits of CI/CD for Agile custom software projects
By using CI/CD for agile custom software projects, you’ll see:
Faster delivery
Features are released in stages, so you see progress sooner.
Fewer bugs
Automated testing catches issues early.
More flexibility
If your business needs change, the team can adapt quickly without needing to start from scratch.
Increased collaboration
You’ll receive regular updates and feedback throughout the project.
Less downtime
Your software will keep running whilst we continue to make improvements.
How we use CI/CD at Koderly
At Koderly, we use CI/CD to support the development and delivery of one of our bespoke software products, Babel.NET.
Babel.NET is a high-performance web service that integrates directly into existing .NET websites, without needing a separate server, allowing data to be stored into our travel booking system’s memory.
We introduced CI/CD to simplify the build process, so our developers don’t need direct access to code signing certificates. It allows us to consistently produce and share the final build output, and makes sure that updates are automated, tested, and deployed quickly and securely.
By using CI/CD, we’ve made it easier to maintain and improve Babel.NET without slowing down development or compromising security.
If you’re planning a custom software project and want to explore how this approach could work for you, pop us a message using the contact form below or visit our software development page for more information.
