Architectural Design Decisions and Best Practices for Fast and Efficient CI/CD Pipelines

Francesco Urdih; Theodoros Theodoropoulos; Uwe Zdun

doi:10.1007/978-3-032-02138-0_19

Architectural Design Decisions and Best Practices for Fast and Efficient CI/CD Pipelines

Forschungsgruppe Software Architecture

Veröffentlichungen: Beitrag in Buch › Beitrag in Konferenzband › Peer Reviewed

Abstract

Continuous Integration/Deployment (CI/CD) pipelines are critical for integrating developer changes and maintaining high-quality software deployments. The increasing frequency of commits and deployments places significant demands on CI/CD systems, requiring improved speed and efficiency. While numerous tools and techniques have been proposed to increase the velocity of CI/CD pipelines, there is a notable gap in architectural guidance for developers on key design decisions and best practices. To address this, we conducted a grey literature review using Straussian Grounded Theory to develop a UML-based model to guide software architects and developers in their decision-making. Our research focuses on identifying architectural design decisions (ADDs) and best practices as decision options that improve the speed and efficiency of CI/CD pipelines. The study analyses 38 sources, building a formal model comprising 6 ADDs and 30 best practices. This work contributes a structured, architecturally guided approach to optimizing CI/CD systems.

Originalsprache	Englisch
Titel	Software Architecture
Untertitel	19th European Conference, ECSA 2025, Limassol, Cyprus, September 15–19, 2025, Proceedings
Redakteure*innen	Vasilios Andrikopoulos, Cesare Pautasso, Nour Ali, Jacopo Soldani, Xiwei Xu
Verlag	Springer Nature
Seiten	297-305
Seitenumfang	9
ISBN (elektronisch)	978-3-032-02138-0
ISBN (Print)	978-3-032-02137-3
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-032-02138-0_19
Publikationsstatus	Veröffentlicht - 2026
Veranstaltung	19th European Conference on Software Architecture - St. Raphael Resort, Limassol, Zypern Dauer: 15 Sept. 2025 → 19 Sept. 2025 https://conf.researchr.org/home/ecsa-2025

Publikationsreihe

Reihe	Lecture Notes in Computer Science
Band	15929
ISSN	0302-9743

Konferenz

Konferenz	19th European Conference on Software Architecture
Kurztitel	ECSA 2026
Land/Gebiet	Zypern
Ort	Limassol
Zeitraum	15/09/25 → 19/09/25
Internetadresse	https://conf.researchr.org/home/ecsa-2025

Fördermittel

This research was funded in whole or in part by the Austrian Science Fund (FWF) project CQ4CD, Grant-DOI: 10.55776/I6510. For open access purposes, the authors have applied a CC BY public copyright license to any author accepted manuscript version arising from this submission.

Träger	Trägernummer
Fonds zur Förderung der wissenschaftlichen Forschung (FWF)	I 6510

ÖFOS 2012

102022 Softwareentwicklung

Zugriff auf Dokument

10.1007/978-3-032-02138-0_19

http://eprints.cs.univie.ac.at/8379/

Andere Dateien und Links

Verknüpfung zur Publikation in Scopus

1 Laufend

CQ4CD: Kontinuierliche Qualitätskontrolle für Continuous Delivery
Zdun, U. (Co-Projektleiter*in), Hoorn, A. V. (Co-Projektleiter*in), Urdih, F. (Wissenschaftliche*r Projektmitarbeiter*in), Theodoropoulos, T. (Wissenschaftliche*r Projektmitarbeiter*in) & Ennsberger, S. (Projektadministrator*in)
1/10/24 → 30/09/27
Projekt: Forschungsförderung

Architectural Design Decisions and Best Practices for Fast and Efficient CI/CD Pipelines
Urdih, F. (Vortragende*r)
18 Sept. 2025
Aktivität: Vorträge › Vortrag › Science to Science

Zitationsweisen

Urdih, F., Theodoropoulos, T., & Zdun, U. (2026). Architectural Design Decisions and Best Practices for Fast and Efficient CI/CD Pipelines. in V. Andrikopoulos, C. Pautasso, N. Ali, J. Soldani, & X. Xu (Hrsg.), Software Architecture: 19th European Conference, ECSA 2025, Limassol, Cyprus, September 15–19, 2025, Proceedings (S. 297-305). Springer Nature. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-032-02138-0_19

Urdih, Francesco ; Theodoropoulos, Theodoros ; Zdun, Uwe. / Architectural Design Decisions and Best Practices for Fast and Efficient CI/CD Pipelines. Software Architecture: 19th European Conference, ECSA 2025, Limassol, Cyprus, September 15–19, 2025, Proceedings. Hrsg. / Vasilios Andrikopoulos ; Cesare Pautasso ; Nour Ali ; Jacopo Soldani ; Xiwei Xu. Springer Nature, 2026. S. 297-305 (Lecture Notes in Computer Science, Band 15929).

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abstract = "Continuous Integration/Deployment (CI/CD) pipelines are critical for integrating developer changes and maintaining high-quality software deployments. The increasing frequency of commits and deployments places significant demands on CI/CD systems, requiring improved speed and efficiency. While numerous tools and techniques have been proposed to increase the velocity of CI/CD pipelines, there is a notable gap in architectural guidance for developers on key design decisions and best practices. To address this, we conducted a grey literature review using Straussian Grounded Theory to develop a UML-based model to guide software architects and developers in their decision-making. Our research focuses on identifying architectural design decisions (ADDs) and best practices as decision options that improve the speed and efficiency of CI/CD pipelines. The study analyses 38 sources, building a formal model comprising 6 ADDs and 30 best practices. This work contributes a structured, architecturally guided approach to optimizing CI/CD systems.",

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Urdih, F , Theodoropoulos, T & Zdun, U 2026, Architectural Design Decisions and Best Practices for Fast and Efficient CI/CD Pipelines. in V Andrikopoulos, C Pautasso, N Ali, J Soldani & X Xu (Hrsg.), Software Architecture: 19th European Conference, ECSA 2025, Limassol, Cyprus, September 15–19, 2025, Proceedings. Springer Nature, Lecture Notes in Computer Science, Bd. 15929, S. 297-305, 19th European Conference on Software Architecture, Limassol, Zypern, 15/09/25. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-032-02138-0_19

Architectural Design Decisions and Best Practices for Fast and Efficient CI/CD Pipelines. / Urdih, Francesco (Korresp. Autor*in); Theodoropoulos, Theodoros ; Zdun, Uwe.
Software Architecture: 19th European Conference, ECSA 2025, Limassol, Cyprus, September 15–19, 2025, Proceedings. Hrsg. / Vasilios Andrikopoulos; Cesare Pautasso; Nour Ali; Jacopo Soldani; Xiwei Xu. Springer Nature, 2026. S. 297-305 (Lecture Notes in Computer Science, Band 15929).

Veröffentlichungen: Beitrag in Buch › Beitrag in Konferenzband › Peer Reviewed

TY - GEN

T1 - Architectural Design Decisions and Best Practices for Fast and Efficient CI/CD Pipelines

AU - Urdih, Francesco

AU - Theodoropoulos, Theodoros

AU - Zdun, Uwe

N1 - Publisher Copyright: © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2026.

PY - 2026

Y1 - 2026

N2 - Continuous Integration/Deployment (CI/CD) pipelines are critical for integrating developer changes and maintaining high-quality software deployments. The increasing frequency of commits and deployments places significant demands on CI/CD systems, requiring improved speed and efficiency. While numerous tools and techniques have been proposed to increase the velocity of CI/CD pipelines, there is a notable gap in architectural guidance for developers on key design decisions and best practices. To address this, we conducted a grey literature review using Straussian Grounded Theory to develop a UML-based model to guide software architects and developers in their decision-making. Our research focuses on identifying architectural design decisions (ADDs) and best practices as decision options that improve the speed and efficiency of CI/CD pipelines. The study analyses 38 sources, building a formal model comprising 6 ADDs and 30 best practices. This work contributes a structured, architecturally guided approach to optimizing CI/CD systems.

AB - Continuous Integration/Deployment (CI/CD) pipelines are critical for integrating developer changes and maintaining high-quality software deployments. The increasing frequency of commits and deployments places significant demands on CI/CD systems, requiring improved speed and efficiency. While numerous tools and techniques have been proposed to increase the velocity of CI/CD pipelines, there is a notable gap in architectural guidance for developers on key design decisions and best practices. To address this, we conducted a grey literature review using Straussian Grounded Theory to develop a UML-based model to guide software architects and developers in their decision-making. Our research focuses on identifying architectural design decisions (ADDs) and best practices as decision options that improve the speed and efficiency of CI/CD pipelines. The study analyses 38 sources, building a formal model comprising 6 ADDs and 30 best practices. This work contributes a structured, architecturally guided approach to optimizing CI/CD systems.

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KW - Efficiency

KW - Software Architecture

KW - CI/CD

KW - Design Decisions

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U2 - 10.1007/978-3-032-02138-0_19

DO - 10.1007/978-3-032-02138-0_19

M3 - Contribution to proceedings

SN - 978-3-032-02137-3

T3 - Lecture Notes in Computer Science

SP - 297

EP - 305

BT - Software Architecture

A2 - Andrikopoulos, Vasilios

A2 - Pautasso, Cesare

A2 - Ali, Nour

A2 - Soldani, Jacopo

A2 - Xu, Xiwei

PB - Springer Nature

T2 - 19th European Conference on Software Architecture

Y2 - 15 September 2025 through 19 September 2025

ER -

Urdih F , Theodoropoulos T , Zdun U. Architectural Design Decisions and Best Practices for Fast and Efficient CI/CD Pipelines. in Andrikopoulos V, Pautasso C, Ali N, Soldani J, Xu X, Hrsg., Software Architecture: 19th European Conference, ECSA 2025, Limassol, Cyprus, September 15–19, 2025, Proceedings. Springer Nature. 2026. S. 297-305. (Lecture Notes in Computer Science, Band 15929). doi: 10.1007/978-3-032-02138-0_19

Architectural Design Decisions and Best Practices for Fast and Efficient CI/CD Pipelines

Abstract

Publikationsreihe

Konferenz

Fördermittel

ÖFOS 2012

Zugriff auf Dokument

Andere Dateien und Links

Fingerprint

Projekte

CQ4CD: Kontinuierliche Qualitätskontrolle für Continuous Delivery

Aktivitäten

Architectural Design Decisions and Best Practices for Fast and Efficient CI/CD Pipelines

Zitationsweisen