CI/CD automates testing and deployment for faster, safer releases. Learn what it is, why it matters for your startup, and what to expect from your development team.
September 10, 2024 9 min read
# CI/CD Explained: Why It Matters for Your MVP
Slug: cicd-explained-why-it-matters
Date: 2024-05-06
Tag: Software Development
Meta Description: CI/CD automates testing and deployment for faster, safer releases. Learn what it is, why it matters for your startup, and what to expect from your development team.
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Your developer mentions setting up "CI/CD" and estimates two days of work. You don't want to spend development time on infrastructure when you could be building features. But you also don't want to skip something important.
CI/CD—continuous integration and continuous deployment—is infrastructure that automates how code gets tested and released. It's not exciting, but it prevents problems that are far more expensive to fix later.
This guide explains CI/CD in plain language, why it matters, and how to evaluate whether your team is implementing it appropriately.
What CI/CD Actually Means
CI/CD combines two related practices.
Continuous Integration (CI)
Continuous integration means automatically testing code changes before they're merged into the main codebase.
Without CI: A developer writes code, believes it works, and adds it to the project. Problems might appear hours, days, or weeks later.
With CI: When a developer submits code, automated tests run immediately. If tests fail, the developer knows right away—while the changes are fresh in their mind.
The "continuous" part means this happens for every change, not occasionally. Problems get caught consistently and early.
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Continuous Deployment (CD)
Continuous deployment means automatically publishing code to your production environment when it passes tests.
Without CD: A developer finishes code, manually packages it, logs into servers, uploads files, restarts services, and hopes nothing breaks.
With CD: When code passes tests, it automatically deploys to production. Same process every time, no manual steps.
Some teams use "continuous delivery" instead—code is prepared for deployment but requires manual approval to go live. Either approach is a major improvement over manual deployment.
Why This Matters for Your Product
CI/CD isn't just developer convenience. It affects your business directly.
Faster Iteration
Without automation, deployments take time. A developer needs to run manual steps, wait for processes, verify everything works. This overhead discourages frequent releases.
With CI/CD, deploying is trivial. Click a button or merge code, and the new version goes live within minutes. Teams with CI/CD often deploy multiple times per day.
Faster deployment means faster feedback. You learn what works and what doesn't more quickly.
Fewer Production Bugs
Manual processes are error-prone. A developer forgets a step, types a command wrong, or deploys from the wrong branch. These mistakes cause production problems.
Automated pipelines do the same thing every time. The steps can't be forgotten or done wrong because they're not done by humans.
Additionally, automated tests catch bugs before deployment. A change that breaks existing features fails the tests and doesn't reach production.
Safer Rollbacks
When something goes wrong in production, you need to undo it quickly. Manual rollbacks require finding the previous version, following the deployment process in reverse, and hoping you remember how.
CI/CD systems track every deployment. Rolling back is often one click—redeploy the previous version.
This safety net encourages experimentation. When undoing mistakes is easy, trying things is less scary.
Knowledge Preservation
Manual deployment processes often exist only in a developer's memory. If that developer is sick, on vacation, or leaves the company, deployment becomes a problem.
CI/CD pipelines are documented in code. Anyone on the team can deploy because the process is defined explicitly.
What a CI/CD Pipeline Looks Like
A typical pipeline runs through stages. Each stage must pass before the next begins.
Stage 1: Code Submission
A developer finishes a change and submits it. This triggers the pipeline.
In most setups, this happens through a "pull request" or "merge request"—a proposal to add the change to the main codebase.
Stage 2: Build
The pipeline compiles or packages the code. This verifies that the code is structurally correct—no syntax errors, no missing dependencies.
If the build fails, the pipeline stops. The developer fixes the problem before proceeding.
Stage 3: Automated Tests
Tests run against the built code. These might include:
Unit tests: Testing individual functions work correctly
Integration tests: Testing that components work together
End-to-end tests: Testing complete user flows
If tests fail, the pipeline stops. The developer either fixes the code or updates the tests if they were testing the wrong thing.
Stage 4: Review (Optional)
Many teams require another developer to review changes before they merge. This isn't automated, but it happens before deployment.
Good reviews catch problems that tests miss—logic errors, security issues, maintainability concerns.
Stage 5: Deployment to Staging
After tests pass and reviews complete, code deploys to a staging environment—a copy of production used for final verification.
The team can test the change in a production-like environment before real users see it.
Stage 6: Deployment to Production
After staging verification, the code deploys to production. This might be automatic or require manual approval depending on the team's process.
At this point, real users see the changes.
Stage 7: Monitoring
After deployment, monitoring verifies everything works correctly. If problems appear, alerts notify the team.
Some pipelines include automatic rollback if monitoring detects problems.
What This Looks Like in Practice
For non-technical founders, here's what you should expect to see:
During Development
Developers submit changes through pull requests
Automated checks run within minutes
Green checkmarks indicate tests passed
Red indicators mean something failed
When things are red, deployment is blocked until the problem is fixed.
During Deployment
Merging approved code triggers deployment
Within minutes, the new version is live
No developer needs to log into servers or run manual commands
If something goes wrong, rolling back takes similar time.
Communication
Your team should communicate:
When deployments happen
When deployments fail
When rollbacks occur
Good teams share deployment status proactively, not just when asked.
When CI/CD Is Worth the Investment
CI/CD isn't free. Setting it up takes time, maintaining it takes attention, and running it costs money (though usually small amounts).
Worth It For:
Any product with users. Once real people depend on your product, stability matters. CI/CD reduces outages and speeds recovery.
Teams larger than one person. When multiple developers contribute, coordination problems increase. CI/CD provides the guardrails.
Products that iterate frequently. If you're deploying weekly or faster, automation pays for itself quickly.
Products with complex features. More features mean more things that can break. Automated testing catches breaks that manual testing misses.
Maybe Skip For:
One-time projects. A marketing site that launches once and rarely changes might not justify CI/CD investment.
Extremely early prototypes. If you're still figuring out what to build and might throw everything away, minimal process is fine.
Solo developers with simple projects. A single developer building a simple application might find the overhead not worth it.
Even in these cases, basic automation is usually worthwhile. The question is how much investment is appropriate, not whether any investment makes sense.
What to Expect From Your Development Team
A competent development team should implement CI/CD from the start. Here's what to look for:
Early Setup
CI/CD should be established early in the project, not added later. Retrofitting is possible but more work.
If your team starts building without any CI/CD, ask why. There might be valid reasons, but "we'll add it later" often means it never happens.
Appropriate Scope
For an MVP, CI/CD doesn't need to be elaborate. Basic builds, some automated tests, and automated deployment is sufficient.
If your team proposes extensive CI/CD infrastructure for an early-stage product, that might be overengineering.
Visibility
You should have access to see pipeline status. Most CI/CD platforms have dashboards showing recent builds and deployments.
Good teams share this access proactively.
Documentation
The deployment process should be documented. If your lead developer disappeared tomorrow, could someone else deploy?
Maintenance
Pipelines need occasional maintenance. Tests break as features change. Dependencies need updates. Allocate some ongoing time for this.
Questions to Ask Your Team
When discussing CI/CD, these questions help you understand what's happening:
"What happens when a developer submits code?"
You should hear about automated builds and tests running.
"How do we deploy to production?"
Ideally, the answer involves merging code or clicking a button, not manual server commands.
"How long does deployment take?"
Minutes is normal. Hours suggests problems.
"What happens if deployment breaks something?"
The answer should involve quick rollback procedures.
"Who can deploy?"
Most or all developers should be able to trigger deployments.
"Where can I see deployment history?"
There should be a dashboard or log showing what deployed when.
Common Problems and How to Recognize Them
No CI/CD at All
Signs: Developers talking about "pushing to production" as a significant event requiring specific people. Deployments happening infrequently because they're scary.
Risk: Manual deployment errors, slow iteration, knowledge concentrated in few people.
Flaky Tests
Signs: Tests frequently fail for reasons unrelated to actual problems. Developers have to "just re-run it" to get green status.
Risk: Teams start ignoring test failures, making the tests worthless.
Slow Pipelines
Signs: Deployments take an hour or more. Developers complain about waiting for builds.
Risk: Slows development velocity. Teams batch changes together, making each deployment riskier.
No Staging Environment
Signs: Code goes directly from development to production. Testing happens in production.
Risk: Users encounter bugs that could have been caught in staging.
Manual Deployment Still Required
Signs: Even after CI passes, a developer needs to run commands or log into servers.
Risk: Human error, delayed deployments, knowledge concentration.
How CI/CD Affects Development Costs
CI/CD requires upfront investment but reduces ongoing costs.
Upfront Costs
Setup time: Typically 1-3 days for basic pipelines
Testing time: Writing tests takes time during feature development
Platform costs: CI/CD services charge small monthly fees
Ongoing Savings
Faster debugging: Problems caught early are easier to fix
Less production firefighting: Fewer outages mean less emergency work
At NextBuild, every project includes CI/CD from day one. Automated testing and deployment are standard practice, not optional extras. If you're working with a team that hasn't established these practices, we can discuss what good process looks like.
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