Dr. Daniel Simon, Head of Professional Services at Axivion answers some of the most frequently asked questions regarding DevOps and Continuous Integration:

• Why does modern software development increasingly rely on CI / DevOps?
  
  “Automate what can be automated. And thus also free up valuable human resources for the tasks in which they can be used best – developing new things. Early error detection, scalable environments and reproducible, transparent development processes with quality gates and systematic reviews – these are advantages that CI and DevOps add in the course of professionalising software development.”

• What requirements for tools result from the variety of tools for the integration?
  
  “If tools are stages in a chain of process and development steps, there are corresponding requirements for interoperability. The tools must be able to be used interactively on the developer’s workplace as well as “headless” in a distributed or cloud-like development IT. In the case of commercial tools, attention must be paid to suitable licensing models and mechanisms.”

• How can Static Code Analysis be integrated?
  
  “Ideally, Static Code Analysis is used for the quality gates in development. The required automated reporting must be available for this to relieve the reviewers of repetitive and machine-solvable tasks. Beyond the CI, the reviews must also be usable locally by the individual developers to avoid unnecessary iterations through the CI. Scalability is an important point – meaning both, fast and targeted as well as appropriately prepared feedback.”