Software Architect's Handbook

Continuous delivery

Increasing competition and user expectations mean modern applications have shorter release cycles. Rather than having major releases that are months (or even years) apart, the ability to have application updates on a more regular basis (think weeks or days rather than months) is a necessity.

Cloud-native applications should release software updates rapidly. Shorter release cycles provide an opportunity to get feedback from users more quickly. Rather than having to wait a long period of time to receive feedback, continuous delivery gives us a much tighter feedback loop. The development team can respond more rapidly to users by using the feedback received to make adjustments and improve the software.

Cloud-native applications ...