Continuous Delivery Pipeline - Scaled Agile Framework

    Continuous Delivery Pipeline

    Our highest priority is to satisfy the customer through early and continuous delivery of valuable software.

    - Agile Manifesto

    Definition: The Continuous Delivery Pipeline (CDP) represents the workflows, activities, and automation needed to guide new functionality from ideation to an on-demand release of value.

    Summary

    The continuous delivery pipeline (CDP) is an important part of accelerating product development flow. Each Agile Release Train (ART) builds and manages, or shares, a pipeline with the tools and resources to deliver value independently. Continuous exploration (CE), continuous integration (CI), and continuous delivery (CD)—work together to deliver small batches of updates to meet market demand which are then released on demand. Building and maintaining a CDP allows each ART to provide new functionality to users more frequently than traditional processes.

    What is a continuous delivery pipeline?

    A CDP allows Agile Teams and ARTs to deliver new functionality to users as needed. In some instances, ‘continuous’ may mean daily or even multiple releases per day. In others, this may mean weekly or monthly releases to satisfy market demands and business goals.

    Figure 1 illustrates the pipeline’s four aspects: continuous exploration (CE), continuous integration (CI), continuous deployment (CD), and release on demand (RoD).

    Figure 1. Value stream map with flow metrics

    Legacy practices often cause ARTs to make solution changes in large chunks. However, this does not have to be an all-or-nothing approach. For example, a satellite system comprises a manufactured orbital object, a terrestrial station, and a web farm that feeds the acquired data to end users. Some components, such as the web farm functionality or satellite software, may be released daily. Others, like the hardware components, can only occur once every launch cycle.

    Decoupling the web farm functionality from the physical launch eliminates the need for a monolithic release. It also increases agility, allowing teams to deliver solution components rapidly in response to market changes.

    What are the four elements of a continuous delivery pipeline?

    In this article

    What is a continuous delivery pipeline?
    What are the four elements of a continuous delivery pipeline?
    How is an existing workflow of a CDP mapped?
    How does the ART Kanban enable flow and continuous delivery?
    How does DevOps support continuous delivery?

    Key Takeaways

    • The continuous delivery pipeline (CDP) allows organizations to map a new path using relentless improvement to deliver customer value as needed.
    • The CDP contains continuous exploration, integration, deployment, and demand release.
    • Teams look for ways to improve the efficiency of the CDP to improve the flow of value.
    • DevOps methods are ideal for building, maintaining, and optimizing a CDP.

    Last Update: 6 February 2025