I like to track CI/CD* surveys as an indication of far along organizations are doing at getting better at software: “digital transformation” where the main focus is using software to improve how you do business.
If you’re not doing CI, you’ll have a hard time getting better at doing software, or, really, doing good software at all. I
f you’re not doing CD, you won’t be able to deliver weekly so that you can get the feedback cycle in place to do hypothesis-driven development. You’ll be doing waterfall, etc.
Anyhow, here’s one chart I put together based on the State of Agile surveys:
The data isn’t perfect, scientific, or whatever. But it’s a good rhetorical device. Also, it matches up with other surveys on this topic (from the likes of Gartner and Forrester).
The general take is: CI has plateaued, but it’s high; CD has been slow to catch on and still has only minor growth in adoption year over year.
So, if you think you’re doing agile, there’s a good chance you’re not. Go do a walk-about and see what’s actually happening and make putting CI/CD in place a priority if you’re not doing it. Otherwise, all your other efforts to get better at software will fail and be a waste.
(* Delivery vs. deployment – I don’t know man – I don’t care…? ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ )
(Also, as noted by Jon, if you don’t have testing in place, then start there. Also: version control. Yes, it’s worth mentioning that. You’d be shit-your-pants surprised.)
