Hi guys, during the last weeks we had internal discussions about the importance of having a “Green Build” and the result will be presented in this post.
I strongly believe that one of the reasons why people don’t give importance to a “Green Build” is the fact that they don’t even understand what is behind it; what does a “Green Build” brings to them and what to the organization.
Having a “Green Build” means that a team has a basic need fulfilled, meaning they don’t need to worry with basic problems like making sure that they have the right kits or the right packages in place. Getting a “Green Build” means that the team can concentrate in improving other parts of the software development, focusing on something more important; quoting Deming “Cease dependence on mass inspection to achieve quality. Improve the process and build quality into the product in the first place.”
A “Green Build” can serve as a safety net; if the code compiles, all different test pass, etc. It means that most probably nothing was broken, in this sense this creates confidence in the team. The changes are not only visible to the other developers in the team, they just “give birth” to a build that could potentially end up in acceptance testing or even a production.
Not having a “Green Build” for a long period indicates that the product is not stable. The lack of a stable product increases the unpredictability for a release. In these situations it is impossible to know when the product will be ready to release without a large (and unpredictable) testing phase at the end. Not having a “Green Build” leads to a sequential project life-cycle, aka waterfall.
These were just small ideas from brainstorming sessions of last weeks that I wanted to share with you guys.
Give me some feedback 
PS. You can follow me on twitter: lgoncalves1979
Thanks,
Luis
