Continuous Integration Flows

Book chapter, 2014

While the agile practice of continuous integration has gained increasing traction in industry since its popularization in the 1990s, there is considerable diversity in terms of actual implementation. The term has been used to describe what may in practice be described as rather different practices, with subsequently varying outcomes. This diversity, typically camouflaged by common terminology, not only prevents effective comparison and therefore learning from industry cases but also hinders practitioners in making informed choices as to how continuous integration is best implemented in their particular context. To facilitate analysis and experience exchange, we present a descriptive model of automated software integration flows. Then, helping software professionals with their ability to proactively and consciously build integration system suitable to their needs, we propose an iterative method for integration flow design.