What is Continuous Deployment in SAFe?

Organizations that engage in software development use Continuous Deployment as a strategy. With this strategy, it becomes possible for the code commits passing the automated testing phase to automatically release. The release happens in the production environment in a software-producing organization. In turn, the changes become visible to end-users using the software.

With SAFe Continuous Deployment, you can get rid of human safeguards against unproven code in live software. Nevertheless, it should happen only when the Developers follow thorough testing practices. They should apply real-time and sophisticated monitoring in production. In turn, they can discover any issues with new releases.

What does SAFe explain about Continuous Deployment?

According to Scaled Agile Framework Inc. Continuous Deployment is the process that takes authenticated features in a staging atmosphere. Thereafter, it deploys those authenticated features into the production atmosphere and then they get ready for the release. As in the image given below, Continuous Deployment or CD is the third aspect in the Continuous Delivery Pipeline:

Source: Scaled Agile

Scaled Agile Framework Inc. further adds that for every Solution Train and Agile Release Train, the ability to Release on Demand is crucial. In turn, businesses can respond to market opportunities. They can do this with the highest-value solutions. and shortest sustainable lead times. Further, they can do it at a rate that allows customers to absorb the new functionality. 

For supporting Release on Demand, features should be waiting and verified in production. This should be done even before the business needs those features. To make these things happen, Scaled Agile Framework Inc. suggests that it is optimal to keep deployment and the release process unconnected.  When this is done, the deployed modifications get into the production atmosphere. This happens without affecting the behavior of the present system. With this move, it will be possible for the teams to make incremental and smaller changes. Also, they can deploy these changes in an ongoing manner. Nevertheless, they will not be delivered to the end-users until the right time comes.

How To Secure Continuous Deployment?

Not only for SAFe Continuous Deployment but even for Continuous Deployment in DevOps, the following can help:

• Teams should ensure that all systems are watched as part of the production atmosphere.
• To prevent tampering, it would be good for them to change the steps they follow for signing binaries. They can follow the same rule for other artifacts as well.
• They should put access control into practice across the entire pipeline.
• They should secure access to binary repos and sources. Rather, they can give audit access to them.
• It is better to ensure that credentials, keys and other secrets are safeguarded. They can get these secrets out of source code, scripts and plain text files. To help with this step, they can use a secure and audited secret manager.
• They should harden the systems that host the source. They should do the same for the release and deployment tools, CD/CI servers and building artifact repositories.
• The CI/CD pipeline should never be a threat model. Teams should look for weaknesses in controls and setups and correct them. Even, gaps in logging and auditing, if any, should be addressed. 

What Benefits one Can Expect from Continuous Deployment?

The key benefit of Continuous Deployment in SAFe and even in other atmospheres is reduced lead time. This crucial benefit opens up doors for other benefits like those mentioned below:

• As lead time reduces, an earlier return on investment is possible for each feature. In turn, the requirements of large capital investments reduce for businesses. 
• Whenever a new feature is launched, earlier feedback becomes possible. Above all, the feedback is from real users. So, it becomes possible for Developers to afford techniques like parallel testing. For instance, let us consider that a team has developed two different solutions for the same issue. The confusion of which one to implement is removed as the team can get feedback from real users. It means that teams can implement the option that users find useful.

The Four Activities of Continuous Deployment:

Are you thinking about SAFe Continuous Deployment practices? If yes, you should know about the following four activities suggested by Scaled Agile Framework Inc.:

Source: Scaled Agile

• Deploy to Production: 

This activity describes the practices required for deploying a remedy to a production atmosphere.

• Verify the Solution: 

The role of this activity is to describe the practices that are required for ensuring that the changes function in production as envisioned. This can happen before the solutions are released to customers.

• Monitor for Issues: 

It explains the practices to keep an eye on and report any problems that may come up in production.

• Respond and Recover: 

It explains the practices that can swiftly address any issues that can show up at the time of deployment.

What Makes Continuous Deployment Special Compared to Traditional Development Practices?

When you take the case of traditional development practices, they treat both deployment and release as the same activity. In turn, changes deployed to production in the traditional method are instantly available to users. So, it is hard to apply some design thinking practices like A/B Testing. As a result, there can be a hindrance in the value flow. But, when you take the case of Continuous Deployment, it sees release and deployment as two different practices. In turn, it promotes design thinking practices. Even, it motivates value flow by:

• Aiming functionality to particular customers: 

The deployment is kept away from the release here. So, it enables the business to focus on customers with particular functionality. In turn, businesses can evaluate the effect of the release before the functionality is delivered to all customers.

• Promoting Experimentation: 

Take the case of design thinking practices like A/B Testing. It requires the ability to take different functionalities to the targeted audience. Also, it needs gathering of the data that aid with the creation of designs that are optimized for the needs of users.

• Promoting Small Batches: 

In Continuous Deployment, prior choices are made in the pipeline like automated testing. In turn, deploying small batches get easier.

• Releasing on Business Requirements:

Businesses tend to make the release rarely when they find this task to be error-prone and complex. On the other hand, when release and deployment are not dependent on each other, they can Release on Demand. Also, they feel like they can Release on Demand when investments are made by their employer to make sure both deployment and release are low-risk and automated. For instance, a feature delivery can be in production even before the marketing milestone. When this happens, the business can get complete flexibility. It means that the business can maximize all elements of the delivery of worth.

By putting into practice Continuous Deployment, an ART should pay attention to bringing down the risk of production deployments and transaction costs. Teams can help their organization achieve Continuous Deployment. They can do this by working to make sure that the deployment process is not only routine but also predictable.

How is Continuous Deployment Different from Continuous Delivery?

Are you planning to implement the SAFe Continuous Deployment pipeline in your organization? If so, the best place to instigate is Continuous Delivery. These two practices are similar. Nevertheless, they differ in their approaches to production deploys. When it comes to Continuous Delivery, every modification happening is sent to the main repository. It means that it is ready to be shipped. Nevertheless, the production release process will not happen without human intervention. Here, in Continuous Deployment, the release to production happens automatically. This happens to every modification that gets through the test suite.

Before you begin shipping changes automatically to production, it is better to ensure one thing. It is that your organization follows a good continuous integration culture. Also, it is recommended to begin with continuous delivery as the first step.

How to Move from Continuous Delivery to Continuous Deployment?

Once you have started with continuous delivery and wish to move to Continuous Deployment for the first time, it is better to emphasize a culture of continuous integration. The reason is that Continuous Integration is at the core of Continuous Deployment. The quality of the test suite you use will decide the level of risk for your release. When they are engaged in the development, your teams should automate testing with priority. It means that they should put into practice tests for every new feature. Also, they should add tests for any regressions identified after the release of a new feature.

Conclusion:

For overall success, you should ensure to have good test coverage. Adopting real-time monitoring would be a good idea. Also, you can make sure that the post-deployment tests are reviewed then and there. It is also recommended to get your QA team to work upstream. Keeping away from traditional release notes is equally important in this process. SAFe Continuous Deployment is a very good approach that can bring many positive outcomes to your business and your software development progress.

References:

1. https://www.scaledagileframework.com/continuous-deployment/
2. https://www.synopsys.com/glossary/what-is-continuous-deployment.html