More than ever before, mobile app development companies and IT leaders must release more quickly while minimizing the risks associated with doing so. However, the vast majority of software projects, up to 84 percent of them, fall short of expectations, whether they are delivered on time, on budget, or within scope. Continuous delivery by any mobile app development company is a tried-and-true organizational strategy for not only releasing software faster, but also better software faster, lowering the failure rate.
The COVID-19 pandemic has drastically changed how many organizations operate, both from a customer-facing and backend systems perspective, so evolving capabilities to build, test, learn, and iterate quickly is especially important at this time. Continuous delivery, in our opinion, is a critical strategy for adapting to the rapidly changing world around us.
The following are key performance indicators for organizations:
Frequency of deployment
The time it takes for a system to go live after it has been implemented.
Project Deployment Frequency
Organizations with a higher deployment frequency, a shorter time from implementation to go live, and a shorter recovery time between failures have lower software project failure rates. The distinction between high and low performing organizations is based on these factors that measure software delivery.
Pain Management
Putting off software delivery by mobile app development companies is similar to ignoring a toothache: someone develops tooth pain and ignores it because they don’t want to spend the time, money, and effort of visiting the dentist. They continue to put it off until they are finally concerned enough about the situation to visit the dentist, where they are forced to pay for and endure a double root canal. Stress related to software delivery, like a toothache, is best alleviated by addressing it head on with frequent deployments and quick recovery.
Software products are consistently validated and tested as a result of more frequent releases over time, lowering the risk of building the wrong product or a low-quality product.
What Are the Advantages of Constant Delivery?
Continuous delivery improves software product quality by allowing for more testing and validation over time.
Continuous delivery allows for a faster time to market for products.
Employees who receive feedback more frequently and work in smaller chunks are more aligned and satisfied with the product they are creating.
Customers who use digital products that are regularly and consistently improved based on their own feedback are much more satisfied with the product.
How Do Companies Deploy Faster?
Prioritize Quality and Security: A common misconception we hear is that when you move faster, you have to sacrifice quality. By bringing quality into tasks earlier in the development cycle, continuous delivery helps to mitigate this. Security, product analytics, and integration are all aspects of quality that go beyond the customer experience.
Redefine “done”: Is a product “done” when it’s on the shelf or when it’s in the customer’s hands? When software is released into the hands of the user, it is called “done,” and product analytics can help us test and understand what we can quickly iterate on and improve.
Automate, automate, automate: Automation can be used in a variety of business areas, including software testing, risk assessment, and more.
Your company’s culture can help you get the most out of continuous delivery.
Software delivery is only one aspect of implementing continuous delivery; the culture in which the software is delivered must also change. Cross-functional collaboration must be rewarded and encouraged in order to foster a culture of shared responsibility. People are more likely to support something they helped to create. The Westrum Cultural Model divides cultures into three distinct categories.
Pathological: This category is power-driven, with little cross-departmental cooperation. Across teams, scapegoating occurs, and responsibilities are shunned. Because silos prevent the exchange of ideas and information across teams, there is less innovation in the pathological category.
Bureaucratic: The bureaucratic category is rules-oriented; there is more cross-departmental cooperation, but it typically comes from the top down, with little cultural buy-in across the organisation. Bridge-building between departments is tolerated, but not always enjoyed or encouraged within the teams.
A culture of “stone movers” in which employees are handed down requirements, working in large chunks, and have long feedback cycles reduces job satisfaction and happiness, and thereby productivity. Continuous delivery helps organizations operate in shorter sprints, with transparency around requirements, and constant feedback cycles that make the team members, and the product, better.
The generative category is best suited to the highest-performing teams because it promotes high levels of collaboration between departments and teams, and risks and failures are shared across teams.
Another important aspect of implementing continuous delivery is giving team members a sense of belonging within the company culture. How do your employees feel about how they fit in and contribute to the organisation as a whole? Employees don’t feel like “stone movers” when they use a continuous delivery approach.
Job satisfaction and happiness, as well as productivity, are reduced in a “stone movers” culture, in which employees are given requirements, work in large chunks, and receive long feedback cycles. Continuous delivery enables organisations to work in shorter sprints, with more transparency around requirements and continuous feedback cycles that help team members and products improve.