Preface

Continuous Delivery (CD) and DevOps have been in the spotlight over the last decade or so. Much has been written about the technical aspects and tooling of CD and DevOps, yet a vast number of so-called IT experts don't really understand what they actually are. More worryingly, they don't seem to know what they are definitely not. Over the pages that make up this book I will be unpicking both CD and DevOps so that you will gain an understanding of what they are, how they came to be, and how they can bring true business value to your business. Strictly speaking, we should consider CD and DevOps as two complementary yet separate approaches:

• Continuous Delivery, as the name suggests, is a way of working whereby quality products, normally software assets, can be built, tested and shipped in quick succession—thus delivering value much sooner than traditional approaches.
• DevOps is a way of working whereby developers and IT system operators work closely, collaboratively, and in harmony towards a common goal with little or no organizational barriers or boundaries between them.

This book will provide you with some insight into how these approaches can help you optimize, streamline, and improve the way you work and, ultimately, how you ship quality software. Included in this book are some tricks and tips based on real-world experiences and observations; they can help you reduce the time and effort needed to implement and adopt CD and DevOps, which, in turn, can help you reduce the time and effort required to consistently ship quality software.

In this revised edition, you'll be introduced to the tools, techniques, and approaches that will assist you in the successful adoption of CD and DevOps. Included within are real-world examples to help you to understand what adoption of CD and DevOps entails from the early stage of preparation, through implementation and scaling, to extending beyond traditional uses, along with some real-world examples and tricks and tips that will help facilitate adoption. You will be provided with clear and concise insights into what CD and DevOps are all about and what quantifiable value they can bring to your business and everyone working within it.