[DL.CI.3] Ensure automated quality assurance for every build
Category: FOUNDATIONAL
As code changes become more frequent in a DevOps environment, it becomes important to reduce the time it takes to get feedback on those changes. Adding automated quality assurance (QA) tests into the continuous integration pipeline enables rapidly validating changes and receiving fast feedback.
Add stages to the pipeline which run pre-deployment checks to validate that code changes work alongside the existing code base. These checks should automatically trigger functional, non-functional, and security tests against the integrated code base and build artifacts.
Breaking-the-build, which stops the integration pipeline process due to test failures, is a powerful feedback mechanism. However, it should be used judiciously. Reserve breaking-the-build for critical issues, such as actual build failures, high severity security findings, or non-negotiable compliance findings, that demand immediate developer attention. Overuse can disrupt the continuous flow of development, leading to unforeseen delays, bottlenecks, and poor developer experience. Instead, continue to provide feedback to developers in tools they already use, such as IDEs, chat clients, or email, and let them decide if they should stop the process.
It is often more practical to automate enforcement of quality assurance findings as part of the continuous delivery process. This allows enforcement to be objectively targeted based on the environment to which the build is being deployed into. Have an exception mechanism and escalation plans prepared that developers can use if the continuous integration or continuous deployment prevent deployments which they do not agree with.
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