What Is Continuous Delivery?
Continuous delivery (CD) is the practice of delivering feature increments to customers immediately and frequently — often through a high degree of automation — so that new capabilities reach users as soon as they are ready, instead of waiting for one large, infrequent release.
In Practice
Teams that practice continuous delivery keep the product in a releasable state at all times. Each small change is integrated, tested and packaged so it could be shipped on demand. This shortens feedback loops, reduces the risk of any single release and lets the business decide when to release based on value rather than technical constraints.
PMBOK 8 Context
Continuous delivery is part of the adaptive (agile) delivery vocabulary reflected in the PMBOK Guide, 8th Edition. It supports the Delivery performance domain and the principle of delivering value early and often. It is closely related to flow, throughput and cadence.
FAQ
Is continuous delivery the same as continuous deployment? No. Continuous delivery keeps every change ready to release; continuous deployment automatically pushes every passing change to production without a manual decision.
Which projects benefit most? Adaptive and hybrid projects with frequent, incremental value — typically software and digital products.
Author: Tom, PMP-certified since 2004. Last updated: July 2026. Aligned with the PMBOK Guide, 8th Edition.