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Is "Continuous Implementation" the name of a software development methodology? If so, what is it exactly?

Do you have experience using it?

Note that I know what continuous integration is, but not continuous implementation.

Background: today I learned (second hand) of a company that uses "Continuous Implementation" in the context of their software development. Is it formally defined or is it part of some agile software development methodology?

The best I could find was this paper in the European Journal of Information Systems:

Agility Through Scenario Development And Continuous Implementation

"... a business and IS/IT initiative at Volvo ... development and implementation of an agile aftermarket supply chain. ... to create a platform, Web services, and a Web portal for selling spare parts over the Internet. "

skaffman
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Peter Mortensen
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    Do you mean continuous integration? – JP Alioto Jul 24 '09 at 22:46
  • Are you sure you're not talking about continuous integration? – Paul Sonier Jul 24 '09 at 22:48
  • I should have stated that I know about continuous integration. "Continuous Implementation" was literally what the software developer said (although it is second-hand knowlegde). It might be an internally invented word for continuous integration. – Peter Mortensen Jul 25 '09 at 00:22
  • It simply means their product is in contigous implementation of features. It hasn't shipped yet, and likely never will ;) – Remus Rusanu Nov 11 '09 at 23:32
  • Hi Peter. As you know I'm sure the SOCVR is cleaning up the [tag:software-engineering] tag. Just came across this question, and wanted to give you a heads up on it before we acted on it. – TylerH Feb 15 '17 at 15:04

6 Answers6

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Try searching for "Continuous Integration". It's a Good Thing(TM), in my opinion. "Continuous Implementation" would only be a good development methodology in the Dilbert universe. ;)

Edit:

The original question was simply asking what "continuous implementation" is. Since this site is StackOverflow, not EconomicsOverflow or PolymerEngineeringOverflow, the correct answer is "nothing."

The question was edited afterward to expand the scope, but that doesn't really change my answer.

All references of this term I can find in the realm of software development appear to be a mistake where the author is really meant continuous integration, a common agile technique.

The OP now referenced a a paper using the term in the context of use of the term in an "agile" supply-chain management implementation. Even so, despite the publication, the term has not entered common parlance in SCM, much less software development, and thus has no generally-accepted definition.

richardtallent
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    Please, guys, tell me why you keep upvoting this answer? This does clearly not answer the question and the OP is not making a mistake. – Pascal Thivent Nov 12 '09 at 06:59
  • Maybe because it "sounds" right – AntonioCS Jan 17 '10 at 14:25
  • Agree with Pascal. If you don't know the term in the OP, the best you can do is avoid voting. Voting (up or down) when you know little or nothing about the concept or term being discussed is not professional, and not very helpful either. – CesarGon Nov 24 '10 at 13:28
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I think, the OP is referring to 'Continuous Implementation' only. It is not a commonly used term.

I didn't hear the term, but in the Agile or Scrum methodology, the implementations happen frequently than the traditional waterfall model (but obviously not continuously as in 'Continuous Implementation').

At the company I work, we follow Scrum methodology to deliver the new version every 6 months. Since ours is a product company offering Software-as-Service, the implementations are in our control. We eventually plan to have more frequent implementations. This is much different from the pre-Scrum days, when the new version comes typically every 2 years.

Peter Mortensen
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mrajeshc
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Continuous implementation is a term used in game theory. See here for example. I doubt that this is what you're after, but there you are anyway.

MIKE, an information systems management approach, also uses the term; see here. The Volvo reference in the OP may be referring to MIKE or something similar.

CesarGon
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Richard is likely correct that you mean Continuous Integration, a practice whose primary element is frequent builds to ensure the incremental addition of working functionality to your software.

The seminal article on this practice is "Continuous Integration" by Martin Fowler (this is the original, there is a link at the top to an updated version).

Daniel F. Thornton
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Actually, I think that this new animal comes from a Lean background (which makes sense in the context of Volvo). Nothing formal though. In other words, it sounds Agile, it taste Agile but nobody knows exactly what it means and, for these reasons, I'm sure Volvo's C-level managers like it a lot :) This makes my bullshit detector ring very loudly actually.

Pascal Thivent
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Sounds like marketing people mismatched the terminology. Happens all the time.

Neil N
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