Anyone who has ever been involved in software development understands just how challenging it can be to deliver quality products on time.
The proper software delivery practices will smooth your workflow, reduce errors, and align your team's efforts with the business objectives.
We'll help you get started.
We're discussing everything related to software delivery, from basics to leveraging automation in your CI/CD pipelines.
Together, these aim to make every deployment quicker, more reliable, and scalable.
Such practices helped the Business Development Bank of Canada (BDC), for instance, achieve a 51% faster delivery. But more about them in a second.
Let's first begin with this question:
Software delivery is the process of planning, developing, testing, and deploying software applications to end-users. Effective software delivery means integrating continuous integration, coding, and testing while also considering customer expectations and your company's goals.
Good software delivery has a slew of interconnected advantages.
↓ This leads to:
↓ This leads to:
BDC, which we mentioned earlier, did all that. In three months with Axify, they reduced pre-development activities by up to 74% and quality control by up to 81%.
For them, this meant a 51% faster delivery time and, more importantly, $700,000 in recurring productivity gains annually.
The first step is significant because it covers customer requirements to define a project's scope. In this stage, you’ll seek input from key stakeholders such as business analysts, project managers, and potential end-users.
Remember: A clear explanation and understanding of all the business objectives precede software development.
A well-defined project scope prevents scope creep and helps the project align with customer needs. Moreover, it provides a concrete basis for adequate resource allocations throughout the project life cycle.
After the planning phase, developers begin to code and create the core functionalities of the software product. If you’re following an Agile approach, your development team will:
Unit tests are prevalent at this stage, where any code is tested for correctness to minimize the number of bugs afterward.
This is when individual pieces of code written by different team members are combined into one fully functional system. In this stage, most teams use version control systems and tools to manage code changes and minimize integration errors.
Continuous integration ensures the new code works with the rest of the system by the end. This phase is essential for the early detection of issues, thus accelerating bug clearing and making releases smoother.
However, most teams have testing as a separate phase. That brings us to the next point.
The testing phase in software entails checking that your software is high-quality and reliable.
However, as suggested above, you don’t necessarily need a separate stage. Automated integration testing and unit testing help you find problems much faster.
When you do extensive testing at each stage of the development process, you can find bugs earlier. The point is to increase your velocity, speed up delivery time, and improve flow efficiency. Plus, you’ll reduce the chances of failure when the code is deployed.
Deployment is when the software is released into the production environment for real-world use.
This stage requires careful planning. For example, to minimize risks, you need to assess different deployment strategies, such as phased rollouts or blue-green deployments.
After deployment, you must monitor the production environment to ensure the software is acting accordingly.
You’ll need to:
Customer satisfaction is like your North Star, guiding the next iteration of the development process and feeding your continuous improvement efforts.
Successful software delivery relies heavily on the collaboration between various stakeholders. You’ll also need cross-functional teams of developers, testers, and operations personnel.
Good team collaboration means:
Iterative development is a cornerstone of software delivery, especially if you’re taking an Agile approach.
Your teams will build and improve the product incrementally. You will break down the software development process into smaller cycles so they can deliver features faster while also gathering feedback to refine future iterations.
This iterative approach also allows teams to address performance bottlenecks more effectively by allowing them to concentrate on resolving specific issues in each cycle.
Continuous testing throughout the software delivery lifecycle ensures that each release meets high-quality standards. As we said above, you need a rigorous testing regimen, which includes both unit tests and integration tests, to find bugs early. That way, you can ensure the product is stable.
But quality assurance is not just about catching bugs.
You’ll also need to ensure the software meets customer requirements and solves their subconscious needs. Reducing the risk of failure is one side of the coin; the other is maintaining your users' trust.
Continuous improvement is a fundamental principle that you’ll also meet in Agile and DevOps best practices. The point is to implement regular feedback loops so your teams can analyze their performance. That way, you’ll find areas for improvement.
After all, you want to drive efficiency and ensure your software evolves in line with customer needs and business goals.
Software delivery models define how your project moves from concept to deployment throughout your software development lifecycle.
The Waterfall approach is a linear approach to software delivery because each phase must be completed before the next begins. This model works if you have well-defined project requirements and little expected change.
The main advantage is a structured, disciplined process with distinct planning, execution, and maintenance phases. However, a lack of flexibility usually leads to long timelines and difficulties adapting to changing customer needs.
The Agile model lets you be more flexible and complete tasks faster by breaking projects into smaller, manageable tasks that can be delivered within a sprint. These are completed iteratively, so you can make quick adjustments based on customer feedback and changing project requirements.
CI/CD is a crucial component of the Agile and DevOps frameworks.
We already mentioned the importance of automating code integration, testing, and deployment. Continuously merging and testing code from different developers results in faster releases, quicker feedback loops, and higher software quality.
Good software delivery management depends on following these steps.
Building a balanced team means hiring software developers with diverse skills. You’ll need a mix of frontend and backend expertise, plus roles like QA testers and product owners who understand the entire software delivery lifecycle.
Choosing the right tools is crucial, so start with your project requirements and workflows.
For example, you may need version control systems to manage large codebases or automation tools to streamline repetitive tasks.
For example, Axify integrates with many software development tools, providing real-time data to track performance.
Setting clear goals starts with aligning your project scope with your team's capabilities. Break down big-picture objectives into smaller, actionable goals you can track during daily standups.
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Selecting the suitable delivery model depends on your business needs. The Waterfall model can work for structured projects with fixed requirements, but consider Agile if flexibility is vital.
If unsure, run a small-scale pilot to see which method best fits your team’s workflow. Axify’s performance metrics can help you understand how different models affect your team’s workflow and delivery pipeline, giving you actionable insights on which method best aligns with your goals.
Don’t just rely on testing at the end of your project; incorporate continuous testing throughout the development cycle. Remember that using tools like Selenium for automated browser testing or Postman for API tests can drastically improve the quality of your software.
Besides, Axify’s real-time dashboards can help you monitor all engineering metrics to ensure that every phase of delivery meets high-quality standards.
Boosting morale through small wins makes a huge difference in long-term productivity. We suggest setting short-term goals that align with your project phases and celebrating their completion.
Acknowledge the hard work through team shoutouts or small rewards, even if it's just completing a sprint. Recognizing these achievements will make retrospective meetings more engaging and keep your team focused on future milestones.
One thing we’ve learned is that change is inevitable. You should always build flexibility into your software delivery strategies.
So, use tools like Jira that allow for adaptive project management. When unexpected changes arise, run a quick risk assessment to see how they’ll impact your delivery timeline and adapt accordingly. Flexible goals and processes mean fewer surprises and a smoother overall project flow.
Proper licensing management protects intellectual property and secures software against piracy. Teams neglect this area, only to face serious compliance issues later.
When choosing between on-premise, SaaS, or cloud-based delivery, consider your project’s security requirements, scalability, and budget.
SaaS models offer flexibility and frequent updates, making them ideal for agile environments. On the other hand, on-premise solutions may be necessary for projects with strict data control needs.
That’s why you need Axify.
Software delivery management has challenges: delays, misaligned goals, and bottlenecks. Axify helps you solve these problems by providing real-time insights into your engineering metrics. Use Axify to track progress, forecast delivery times, and streamline your process—all while ensuring your team stays aligned with your business goals.
