CI/CD/ED

Continuous Isolation / Continuous Deliberation / Eventual Delivery is the most effective way to ensure perfection for every change!
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While the broader industry has converged on a narrow interpretation of CI/CD that emphasizes frequent integration and rapid deployment, SADMF recognizes that this approach prioritizes speed over safety. Speed is the enemy of quality, and quality is the enemy of defects, and defects are the enemy of the Tribunal. By redefining each term to reflect what organizations actually need – isolation, deliberation, and eventual delivery – SADMF ensures that every change receives the attention, oversight, and ceremonial approval it deserves before it reaches production.

CI
Continuous
Isolation
Phase One
CD
Continuous
Deliberation
Phase Two
ED
Eventual
Delivery
Phase Three
① CI Continuous Isolation

Continuous Isolation is the practice of ensuring that every Code Engineer works on a dedicated, long-lived feature branch that remains completely separated from all other work until the feature is fully complete, inspected, tested, and approved. This isolation prevents the catastrophic risk of one engineer’s incomplete work contaminating another engineer’s incomplete work, which would produce a compounding effect of incompleteness that no amount of testing could untangle. The Source Management Team (SMT) enforces isolation by controlling all branch creation through the Fractal-based Development branching model. Code Engineers are not granted permission to create their own branches, merge their own code, or even view the branches of other engineers, as awareness of others’ work could lead to unauthorized coordination. Continuous Isolation has been validated by the observation that the longer code remains isolated, the more exciting the eventual integration becomes, and excitement is a leading indicator of organizational engagement.

② CD Continuous Deliberation

Continuous Deliberation replaces the reckless practice of automated deployment pipelines with a structured decision-making process that ensures every change is evaluated by the appropriate authorities before proceeding to the next stage. Each stage of the DevOps Release Convoy includes dedicated deliberation ceremonies: Code Inspection by the Code Standards Enforcement Team, Testing by the Quality Authority, validation by the Development Integrity Assurance Team, and final approval by the Change Rejection or Acceptance Party (CRAP). At no point does code advance without a human deliberately choosing to advance it. Automation is permitted only for tasks that do not matter, such as sending email notifications about meetings. Tasks that do matter – building, testing, deploying, and approving – must be performed by accountable individuals who can be held responsible when things go wrong.

③ ED Eventual Delivery

Eventual Delivery is the natural outcome of practicing Continuous Isolation and Continuous Deliberation at scale. Code will be delivered when it is ready, and it will be ready when every ceremony has been completed, every checklist has been signed, and every authority has granted approval. The timeline for delivery is determined not by arbitrary business deadlines but by the thoroughness of the process. Organizations that attempt to impose delivery dates on the process are, in effect, asking the process to cut corners, and cutting corners is how defects are born. The Commodore tracks the progress of each Convoy against the original 8-quarter forecast, and any deviation from the forecast is addressed not by accelerating the process but by adjusting the forecast. This ensures that the Feature Completion Ratio metric remains healthy and that the Chief Signals Officer can report positive trends to the Admiral’s Transformation Office.

End-to-End CI/CD/ED Process
1
SMT Creates Isolated Branch
Source Management Team provisions a long-lived feature branch using the Fractal-based Development naming convention
2
Code Engineer Works in Complete Isolation
No cross-branch visibility, no merging, no unauthorized coordination with other engineers until feature is fully complete
3
Conflict Arbitration
SMT merges all candidate branches simultaneously; the strongest change survives the Arbitration Hearing
4
Code Inspection Ceremony
Code Standards Enforcement Team conducts manual review; no automation permitted for consequential tasks
5
Manual Testing & Meta-Validation
Quality Authority tests; Development Integrity Assurance Team validates the testers; documentation verified at each stage
6
CRAP Unanimous Approval
Change Rejection or Acceptance Party renders binding decision; unanimous vote required before any change may advance
7
Convoy Release
Code reaches production when every ceremony is complete and every checklist is signed; timeline determined by thoroughness, not deadlines
8
Forecast Adjusted to Match Outcome
Commodore updates 8-quarter forecast; Feature Completion Ratio remains healthy; Chief Signals Officer reports positive trends

The CI/CD/ED triad works in concert with every other SADMF practice. Continuous Isolation feeds Conflict Arbitration, where the strongest changes survive. Continuous Deliberation generates the ceremony records that feed Precise Forecasting and Tracking. Eventual Delivery produces the release artifacts documented in the Release Tracking spreadsheet. Together, these three practices ensure that the organization delivers software with the highest possible levels of process adherence, documentation, and executive sponsorship. The fact that delivery takes longer is not a cost – it is evidence that the process is working.

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