Agile runs on CI

The Agile software development process focuses mainly on fast delivery, and CI helps Agile in achieving that speed. But how does CI do that? Let us understand by using a simple case.

Developing a feature involves many code changes, and between every code change, there are a set of tasks to perform, such as checking-in the code, polling the version control system for changes, building the code, unit testing, integration, building on the integrated code, integration testing, and packaging. In a CI environment, all these steps are made fast and error-free by using a CI tool such as Jenkins. 

Adding notifications makes things even faster. The sooner the team members are aware of a build, integration, or deployment failure, the quicker they can act. The following diagram depicts all the steps involved in a CI process:

CI process with notifications

In this way, the team quickly moves from feature to feature. In simple terms, the agility of the agile software development is greatly due to CI.