Source Code Management and the 10-Step Delivery Lifecycle

Note: This is part 4 of a Sweetcode blog post series about source code management.

In the previous three posts in Sweetcode’s series about source code management strategies, we discussed traditional source code management solutions and why they fall short.

In this fourth and final post in the series, we’ll stop talking about problems and start identifying answers. Below, we explain what it takes to manage source code effectively in a modern enterprise.

Source Code Management and the 10-Step Delivery Lifecycle

What does a modern enterprise source code solution look like in practice? In addition to being agile, scalable, open source and resiliently centralized (which, as we noted previously, are all features required by modern enterprises), it is fully integrated into every part of the app delivery lifecycle. It supports and empowers your team at each of the 10 steps they take when producing an app.

Those steps include:

1. 1. Idea: In this step, your team defines the concept behind the app, or the new feature they want to implement.
   2. Issue: Once an idea is generated, you should create an issue for it so that your team can follow it in an issue tracker.
   3. Plan: Before you begin implementing your new idea, you should make a plan to organize your workflow in a place where all team members can access it.
   4. Code: With a workflow plan in place, you’re ready to write code.
   5. Commit: With the new code written, you can add it to your feature branch.
   6. Test: No new code should flow down the delivery pipeline before it is properly vetted. That’s why you run tests after committing the code to make sure your updated app builds and works as expected.
   7. Review: Once scripted tests are complete, your team should also review the new code to add another layer of quality control before it gets pushed out.
   8. Staging: With the code tested and reviewed, you can place it in a staging environment to see how it behaves under conditions intended to mimic production.
   9. Production: If all has gone smoothly up to this point, it’s time to put your new code into production so users can take advantage of the new idea you have implemented.
   10. Feedback: Don’t stop with production deployment. In order to help manage your new software and improve your process continually, it’s essential to collect feedback by studying analytics data related to your workflow.

A modern source code management system enables all of these steps by integrating with all stages of the software delivery process. It plugs into chat platforms to help you collect ideas. It integrates with ticketing systems so you can manage issues. It stores your source code in a secure, central and resilient location. It automates code commits and testing so your team can focus on getting work done—not on performing tedious tasks. And it keeps supporting you when your app is in production by helping you to deploy and analyze the efficiency of your delivery chain.

Source Code Management and Continuous Delivery

In all of these ways, a modern source code solution helps you to achieve continuous delivery— meaning that you roll out app updates and enhancements on a constant basis. That makes your users happy because the apps they use always have the latest features. It makes your team happy because it streamlines IT operations, promotes collaboration and optimizes the use of resources. And it keeps your business thriving by helping you to stay a step ahead of your competitors, who can’t roll out production-ready software enhancements as quickly.