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Continuous Integration (CI) is one of the major pillars of agile software development, particularly in the Scrum framework. It is an approach that maximizes the efficiency, collaboration, and control over the development process. As such, it is an essential competency for Advanced Certified Scrum Developers (A-CSD).
Continuous Integration (CI) is a software development practice where developers regularly merge their code changes into a central repository, after which automated builds and tests are run. The key goals of Continuous Integration are to find and address bugs quicker, improve software quality, and reduce the time it takes to validate and release new software updates.
To incorporate CI into a team’s development process, various tools and strategies can be utilized. Here is a step-by-step guide as per the standards of an Advanced Certified Scrum Developer (A-CSD).
The first step in setting up a CI environment is choosing a robust version control system. A VCS like Git allows developers to store different code versions, avoid code conflicts, and facilitate rapid and effortless code integration. It provides a record of all changes made in the code base, allowing the team to identify when and where issues crop up.
Selection of a CI tool is crucial. These tools manage the integration process, automating builds and providing reports on any integration failures. Examples of industry-standard CI tools are Jenkins, Bamboo, and Travis CI. The choice depends on various factors such as features, ease of use, integration with other tools and systems, and pricing.
The next step is to automate the build process. A build includes compiling source code, packaging compiled code into a binary, running automated tests, and creating documentation. This ensures that the application can be developed independently and delivered as a whole.
The build should be kept in a releasable state. If a developer commits changes that cause the build to fail, repairing it should be the top priority. Developers must be proactive in resolving these issues to avoid bottlenecks in the development process.
Testing in CI is continuous and happens at different levels – unit testing, integration testing, system testing, and acceptance testing. The goal is to discover and handle bugs as early as possible.
CI requires frequent commits, and if builds take too long, it can delay other processes. Maintaining a rapid build time is crucial in preventing a backlog of unverified commits and maintaining high productivity.
The CI setup needs to focus on making the deployment process repeatable and reliable. Automated deployment tools are valuable for this purpose.
Scrum teams focus on delivering small chunks of software in short, time-boxed iterations called sprints, typically lasting two weeks. This aligns perfectly with a CI scenario. Each feature implemented during a sprint can be considered as a mini project, beginning with design and ending with integration. Developers on the Scrum team integrate their changes regularly, typically each day (or even more frequently). This coincides naturally with the regular feedback loops within Scrum, and enables the team to release any high-quality, working version of the software at any point, aligning with the Agile principle of sustainable and continuous delivery.
CI encourages consistent, automated testing and building to ensure software is always in a functional, shippable state. By integrating regularly, developers can detect errors quickly, and locate them more easily. It’s an integral practice for A-CSD to deliver high-quality software and meet the organisational goals effectively. Remember, the principle here is to build regularly, test often, fix bugs immediately, and deliver constantly and consistently.
• True
• False
Answer: True
Explanation: CI is a development practice where developers integrate changes in the code into a shared mainline (repository), ideally several times a day.
• A. Jenkins
• B. Bamboo
• C. Gitlab CI/CD
• D. Microsoft Outlook
Answer: A, B, C
Explanation: Jenkins, Bamboo, and Gitlab CI/CD are popular CI/CD tools, Microsoft Outlook is an email and personal information manager application and not a CI tool.
• True
• False
Answer: False
Explanation: CI does not eliminate the need for code reviews. Despite automating the integration and testing process, peer code review is still crucial to maintain code quality.
• A. Ensuring every code is manually tested before committing
• B. Committing code changes to the shared repository several times a week
• C. Never automating the build
• D. Running automated tests on the new changes
Answer: D
Explanation: One of the key practices of CI is to run automated tests on any new changes to catch errors as early as possible.
• True
• False
Answer: True
Explanation: The core principle of CI is to prevent integration problems. Hence, a build failure denotes an integration issue that should be fixed immediately to maintain the stability of the codebase.
• A. Increased code quality
• B. Reduced integration problems
• C. Elimination of communication within the team
• D. Faster release rate
Answer: C
Explanation: CI improves code quality, reduces integration problems, and contributes to the faster release rate. However, it does not eliminate the need for team communication.
• True
• False
Answer: True
Explanation: In CI, the mainline (a.k.a. main branch or master branch) is the central hub where all code changes come together. Deployments are usually automated from this branch to ensure consistency.
• A. The build is physically damaged
• B. The build needs updates
• C. The new changes failed the automated tests
• D. The build is old
Answer: C
Explanation: A “broken build” in the context of CI means that recent changes have failed the automated tests, which signifies a problem with the current version of the code.
• A. Build, Test, Merge
• B. Merge, Build, Test
• C. Test, Build, Merge
• D. Merge, Test, Build
Answer: B
Explanation: The order of steps in a typical CI process is Merge (committing changes to the mainline), Build (compiling code, and other pre-merge activities), and then Test.
• True
• False
Answer: False
Explanation: While they are part of the same software development practice (known as CI/CD pipeline), Continuous Integration is the first part that involves frequently merging in code changes and verifying them with automated builds and tests while Continuous Deployment automates the software release process.
• A. Yes
• B. No
Answer: B
Explanation: Automated testing is integral to Continuous Integration. Without it, detection of errors and failed integrations would be impossible in real time.
• True
• False
Answer: True
Explanation: A version control system is fundamental for Continuous Integration as it manages and stores revisions of projects enabling frequent merging and testing of changes.
41 Replies to “apply at least one Continuous Integration (CI) approach with a team.”
Great post! Applying CI has really streamlined our development process.
Can anyone recommend a good CI tool that’s easy to integrate with JIRA?
Bamboo is a good option. It’s built by Atlassian so it integrates seamlessly with JIRA.
How to handle flaky tests in a CI environment?
Quarantine flaky tests and periodically run them to identify and fix the underlying issues.
We use GitLab CI/CD, and it’s been awesome for our workflow!
GitLab CI/CD’s seamless integration with GitLab repositories is a huge plus.
Quick question: Is there any CI tool that works well with mobile app development?
We’ve had success with CircleCI for our mobile projects. It offers good support for iOS and Android.
Buddybuild used to be our go-to, but since it was acquired by Apple, we’ve switched to Bitrise and it’s been great.
I’m new to CI. Which tool is beginner-friendly?
CircleCI is pretty user-friendly and has a good amount of documentation.
I found this post a bit too high-level, more detailed examples would have been better.
Really appreciate the insights on CI tools.
Thanks for the post! We are considering Travis CI and this helped a lot.
Can someone explain the benefits of using automated tests in CI?
Automated tests ensure that your codebase remains stable and that new changes don’t break existing functionality.
They also speed up the feedback loop, allowing developers to identify and fix issues faster.
Helpful post! Our team uses Travis CI and it’s been working great.
Adopting CI has significantly reduced our deployment time.
Same experience here. It also helps in catching errors early in the process.
How critical is CI for a small team?
Even for a small team, CI can help catch issues early and improve code quality overall.
How does CI work with multiple branches?
You can set up different pipelines for different branches. Most CI tools allow you to specify which branches to build and test.
This is exactly what I needed, thank you!
We moved from Jenkins to GitHub Actions and it’s been more efficient.
GitHub Actions integrates really well with our git repositories, reducing overhead.
I think adopting CI has a steep learning curve.
Definitely, but the long-term benefits such as improved efficiency and consistency are worth it.
Try looking for CI tools with extensive documentation and community support. It can make the learning process easier.
Nice and informative post!
Great blog post on CI, very insightful.
We used Jenkins as our CI tool and it has been fantastic for our team.
Jenkins is great! We use it with Docker to automate our deployment pipelines.
Have you tried integrating Jenkins with GitHub Actions? It made our workflow even more efficient.
Applying CI is too complicated for our project. Any tips?
Start small. Automate the simplest part of your deployment process and gradually incorporate more complex tasks.
This blog is super helpful, thanks! We’re just starting our CI journey.
We’ve automated our entire build process with Jenkins and it’s been a game changer.
Same here! Jenkins really helps to keep everything on track with less manual intervention.