0011 - Continuous Delivery

Date
Authors
John Nolan
Status
accepted
Areas

Context

The GOV.UK technical guidance(opens in new tab) specifies that software should be deployed regularly.

Principles from the GOV.UK guidance are as follows and we will hold ourselves to them.

  • deploy little and often
  • deploy quality software
  • use auditable deployments
  • use zero downtime deployments where possible

Technical

Developer Knowledge - How well known is this in our current skill sets

Overall: 9/10
All our teams use Continuous Delivery in their services and it is a standard practice for all.

Decision

Build the service with Continuous Delivery in mind and as the default. This will require the following elements to be in place

  • build a single artifact rather than variations for different environments
  • have multiple deployment environments
  • manage variable configuration
  • secure passwords and keys
  • use smoke tests - software tests that check if the most important functions are working

Consequences

  • Automated testing will need to be of a high enough standard to give Product Owners confidence in the process
  • Builds and deployments are repeatable
  • Deployments are quicker
  • Fast feedback cycle