A team needs to demo a useful service tomorrow, then let other developers extend it. Waiting until the service is complete to decide how to build, check, and ship it makes that first delivery harder. A software delivery pipeline gives each small change a repeatable path from code to feedback and a deliverable artifact. section 2.0 section 11.4.3
Start the pipeline early, even before there is much application code. Put the project in a central repository, document how contributors set it up, and automate the build. Checking in code should trigger checks that tell the developer whether it compiles or meets quality expectations. A failure prompts a fix; a successful run can produce something ready to deliver. section 1.3.1 section 1.2.1 section 2.0
Keep the path small enough to use and improve:
- Define a small increment that can reach someone who needs it, rather than letting work in progress accumulate. section 1.2
- Automate the checks needed for that increment, and make failures visible to the developer. section 1.2.1
- Deliver an artifact suited to the product: a deployed service, a downloadable binary, or an update. section 11.4.3
A first working increment
For a hello API, a one-day milestone calls for onboarding instructions, a simple response, unit tests, and a run outside the development machine. After adding a Go endpoint, a developer can build and run it locally, push the change, and inspect the GitHub Actions run. The pipeline produces a downloadable binary. It is not the finished translation service, but it is something a teammate can integrate with or a customer can see in a demo. section 2.0 section 2.5
Listing 2.1 README.md
# Hello API ## Release Milestones ### V0 (1 day) - [ ] Onboarding Documentation - [ ] Simple API response (hello world!) - [ ] Unit tests - [ ] Running somewhere other than the dev machine ### V1 (7 days) - [ ] Create translation endpoint - [ ] Store translations in short-term storage - [ ] Call existing service for translation - [ ] Move towards long-term storage
The README milestone checklist makes the first deliverable and the later translation work distinct, so the pipeline can support feedback before the larger service is finished. section 2.0
The stages are not a fixed prescription. Product needs determine how elaborate each check and delivery step should be. Keep the loop running, improve it with the team, and change the destination as you learn how people use the product. The dependable rule is to turn code into a checked, deliverable artifact. section 1.2.1 section 11.4.3 section 11.7
