I recently read a compelling account on the Testleaf blog about structured CI/CD pipelines, and it mirrored my own experience perfectly. Before implementing proper stages, our deployments were pure chaos.
The Pre-Pipeline Nightmare
Builds jumped from Dev straight to production. No validation, no safety nets. Minor bugs became major incidents. Test results arrived too late. Manual verification everywhere. Environment inconsistencies made bug reproduction nearly impossible.
Nobody owned anything. Sign-offs were a mess. Releases felt like Russian roulette.
The Solution: Dev → QA → Preprod → Prod
We implemented a stage-by-stage pipeline with clear gates between environments.
Dev Stage
Developers push code, triggering automated builds and unit tests. Immediate feedback—errors caught in minutes, not days. Fast iteration without waiting for downstream validation.
QA Stage
Automated regression suites run comprehensively. Screenshots, HAR files, and videos captured automatically. Centralized dashboard shows all results. Defects isolated early when they're easiest to fix.
Only stable builds proceed.
Preprod Stage
Environment mirrors production exactly. Integration testing with external APIs and payment gateways. Final validation before anything touches real users. Manual sign-off gate ensures quality.
Prod Stage
Automated deployment with zero manual intervention. Post-deployment smoke tests confirm success. Automatic rollback if critical failures detected.
The Results
Regression execution time dropped significantly
Manual intervention reduced by 90%
Release confidence skyrocketed
Production incidents decreased dramatically
Faster release cycles without sacrificing quality
What Changed for QA
We transformed from firefighters to strategic partners. No more guessing if builds are ready. No more endless status meetings—dashboards provide real-time visibility.
QA finally had time for exploratory testing and improving coverage instead of chasing deployments.
The Lesson
Stage-by-stage pipelines aren't just technical infrastructure—they're a mindset shift. Each stage acts as a quality checkpoint. Only validated, tested builds move forward.
The chaos of unpredictable releases got replaced with predictability, transparency, and confidence.
If your team still struggles with deployment chaos, implementing Dev → QA → Preprod → Prod stages isn't an upgrade—it's a necessity.
Inspired by Testleaf's comprehensive guide on stage-by-stage CI/CD pipelines.
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