Continuous Integration Impediments in Large-Scale Industry Projects

Test activities in the continuous integration and delivery pipeline

“…We can also see that line managers' and project managers' main interest are test activities late in the pipeline (measuring project progress). This could also possibly explain why developers sometimes struggle to get resources to test frequently early in the pipeline, which we have observed in our previous work …”

“…It is worth reflecting on how the ways of working described by the interviewees from the case study companies correspond to the practice of continuous integration as it is described in literature, eg, the often cited definition by Martin Fowler. 32 We have investigated similar cases in our previous work 9 where developers commit daily to a branch, but the branches are integrated with the main track much less frequently. In those cases, we argue that one must always consider what the system which one integrates is: one can practice continuous integration of a subsystem on a branch, but not integrate the complete system at the same frequency (which may have different pros and cons depending of the context).…”

“…This could also possibly explain why developers sometimes struggle to get resources to test frequently early in the pipeline, which we have observed in our previous work. 9,11 The Test Activity Stakeholders model may serve as a starting point for companies when evaluating and designing their continuous integration and delivery pipeline, enabling the identification of stakeholders and focusing improvement efforts where they are most needed. The model could be used to encourage questions like "Who are the stakeholders for test activities in our organization?…”

“…In our previous work, we have identified twelve factors that the developers themselves see as the continuous integration impediments in industry projects—the main factors that (if removed) would enable more frequent integration of software. We found that several of those factors were related to test activities, which can carry many different meanings and serve multiple purposes.…”

“…This pipeline has been referred to with different terminology, eg, as "integration pipeline," 4 "deployment pipeline," 4 "continuous integration pipeline," 5 "continuous delivery pipeline," 6,7 "continuous integration and delivery pipeline." 8 In our previous work, 9 we have identified twelve factors that the developers themselves see as the continuous integration impediments in industry projects-the main factors that (if removed) would enable more frequent integration of software. We found that several of those factors were related to test activities, which can carry many different meanings and serve multiple purposes.…”