DevOps

Understanding DevOps Basics: What is Continuous Development?

Written by Karin Kelley
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Updated on February 25, 2025

In the past, software development followed a rigid process for improvements. Developers would spend months or even years producing, testing, and revising the entire software before finally releasing it to customers. Unfortunately, this approach led to slow development cycles and often left users waiting too long for updates. That is when continuous development emerged as a solution to these issues.

But what is continuous development? And how do you use it?

If you want to find that out, keep reading.

In this guide, we will break down:

What is continuous development?
How it works, and
Why it is essential to learn for any DevOps professional who wants to stay ahead in tech today.

If you want to master this process within nine months and take your skills to the next level, check out this DevOps course. We will share the details about it later in the article.

But first, let’s start with the definition.

What is Continuous Development?

Continuous development is part of agile and DevOps methods. This approach aims to keep the software evolving while keeping users satisfied by continuously integrating, testing, and releasing changes.

Most developers favor continuous development because it keeps their software up-to-date, bug-free, and responsive to user needs. It also allows them to deliver frequent short updates instead of waiting for a big release cycle.

Plus, by using it, developers can refine the quality of their software in real time.

Also Read: A Comprehensive List of Top DevOps Tools

What are the Processes Involved in Continuous Development?

Continuous development includes various DevOps processes, including integration, delivery, testing, and deployment. Let’s break down these processes in detail.

1. Continuous Integration (CI)

In continuous integration, developers regularly add new changes to a source code (primary code repository).
In this process, developers put the new changes to multiple automated units and integration testing methodologies. This integration checks if the new code does not crash the product.
This approach enables developers to learn whether or not their software meets the essential needs of deployment.

2. Continuous Delivery

In continuous delivery, you can automate most of the initial software development, completion, and testing phases. This automation means that you can automatically test the new code at each stage of the development cycle for any risks or issues.
As the code passes through different tests, it eventually moves to a staging environment for manual testing (like a last inspection before the final release).
Once the code has passed the final review, it is automatically deployed (sent out) to users. This way, you can deliver your new features or updates quickly and regularly without making the users wait for long release cycles.

3. Continuous Testing

In continuous testing, developers run tests automatically throughout the entire development cycle to catch any bugs or issues. In this phase, they test to see if every part of the software(including the new updates) still works as expected.
This process lets you get quick feedback on whether your code is good or needs fixing before the final delivery.
This approach helps ensure the end product (software) is reliable and high-quality before release.

4. Continuous Deployment (CD)

In the continuous deployment, the code is sent directly into the production environment instead of the staging environment. This approach ensures you can release the software with new features or updates at any moment.
This process is a little risky, but a robust team of developers can make the process worthwhile and reduce those risks. If you do not have access to such resources, then a comprehensive DevOps bootcamp can help you. This bootcamp covers all the best practices and automation tools related to CD. It provides hands-on experience with these tools, teaching you how to automate builds, tests, and deployments in the real world safely and efficiently.

Also Read: DevOps Engineer Job Descriptions: A Comprehensive Guide

How Continuous Development Works

Continuous development allows you to release updates in small, manageable parts (continuously) rather than in one big batch. Here is how it all works together:

Developers constantly integrate their changes in the code into a shared repository several times a day.
Whenever they add or change a code, they run automated tests to see if it works with the rest of the system.
Once the updated code passes all the tests, it is ready for release. (this does not mean it goes live straight away, but it is always in a state where developers could release it at any point). This approach makes it faster to push updates when needed. It also makes the entire development process smoother and lets you deliver software as soon as it is ready and tested.
If a company uses continuous deployment, the software updates are automatically made live to users after passing all the tests without approval. If not, they can manually decide when to release the updates.

What are the Benefits of Continuous Development and Integration?

Some of the most notable advantages of continuous development and integration are as follows:

1. Better Quality Product

Continuous development leads to enhanced software quality. Since you add changes in small chunks in this method, it is easier for you and your team to find and fix bugs, shortcomings, vulnerabilities, and inefficiencies early in the software development process.

This process eventually reduces the likelihood of defects reaching production. As a result, this ongoing development makes your software more stable and reliable.

2. Shorter Release Cycles

Quick and quality updates are something that every team desires in software development and improvement. And with continuous development, that desire can become a reality.

In this method, you do not need to wait months to release new features or updates. You can push out updates regularly (like daily or every week).

For instance, companies like Facebook and Google use continuous development to push out updates multiple times to keep their platforms reliable and fresh.

Plus, this shorter release cycle enables you and your team to respond much quicker to what your users need; that way, you can stay ahead of your competition.

3. Effective Team Collaboration

Continuous development helps your team stay on the same page and avoid confusion by ensuring they integrate their work regularly.

Plus, the feedback received from testing or users enables you and your team to quickly revise what works and what does not in the software. This ensures that your team adjusts their work based on the responses.

4. Effective Risk Management

In continuous development, integrating new updates or features into your code regularly helps your team capture problems in real-time that could snowball into major risks. It makes it easier for developers to identify what caused the issue and roll back to a previous (right) version (if it is wrong).

5. Increased Productivity

Continuous development can help you automate processes like building the code or running software tests. This automation gives you more time to focus on developing new features or updates rather than doing repetitive manual labor.

Plus, this method keeps you well organized and saves you time switching between multiple tasks.

Also Read: What is Docker Container? Steps to Use It and Its Benefits

6. Improved Customer Satisfaction

Your users love it when you’re on top of things, especially software updates.

And that is exactly what continuous development makes it possible for you to achieve. It lets you make regular changes to your software based on user feedback and meet their needs.

Plus, with continuous improvements, this process makes your software function better with fewer crashes to keep your users happy and satisfied with the overall experience.

7. Decreased Cost

All these advantages of continuous development lead to a major advantage: reduced spending. You can enjoy shorter development cycles and easier maintenance while reducing the cost of delivering software that meets your user needs.

Why is Continuous Development Important for Any Developer?

Continuous development is important for any developer because it accelerates software development. This essentially means development teams can achieve more within less time.

Plus, this method allows you to fix any problems with the code through ongoing updates.

But that is not all. There are other reasons why this method is vital for developers:

The first reason is that continuous development allows you to be agile, react to customer feedback quickly, and stay ahead of your competitors. When you use it with continuous integration and continuous delivery, it forms a trifecta of efficiency that’s hard to beat. It allows you to collect and respond to user feedback in near-real time and make changes in the code much faster than traditional methods.
The second reason is that it reduces incompatibility issues and code conflicts early in the product development lifecycle. This method helps when you are working with multiple developers on a project.
Third, continuous development makes it possible to quickly and accurately pinpoint bugs, defects, and fallacies. You can then fix these issues before they damage the code.
Fourth, there are fewer lines of code in each update, which means less risk of crashing the software. Plus, smaller updates are faster to code, test, and release.
Fifth, continuous development dodges the risks of launching large projects that might fail. Adding small changes allows you to test new features quickly and easily reverse them if necessary.
Sixth, continuous development automates many coding and testing processes to integrate only high-quality code into the final product. Automated testing, complemented by some manual steps, helps identify bugs early and ensures untested code does not reach a user.

In short, continuous development keeps your software fresh, reliable, and adaptable to change, which is essential to remain relevant and be more competitive in 2025.

Also Read: How to Install Docker on Ubuntu?

Learn to Use Continuous Development to Excel in DevOps

Continuous development is at the core of DevOps. This process must be learned if you want to succeed in the modern tech environment as a DevOps professional.

But, if you don’t know how to leverage CD practices, check out this comprehensive DevOps program. Designed by industry experts, this bootcamp covers all the essentials of DevOps. It allows you to work on real-world projects using the same tools and techniques the top companies rely upon. This course teaches you job-ready skills to succeed in today’s highly competitive tech industry.

So, if you are starting as a developer or leveling up your career, this bootcamp will help you thrive in a DevOps role.