Experiencing Continuous Delivery Game Through Play

Few weeks ago, I facilitated the Continuous Delivery Game with several teams. What started as a playful exercise quickly turned into a rich conversation about how we deliver software, where the bottlenecks lie, and why Continuous Delivery feels so different from traditional Big Bang releases.

From the very first round, everyone was engaged. Teams jumped in, started playing right away, and the room quickly filled with energy and healthy competition. But what they experienced made a lasting impression.

Big Bang Releases: Testing Became the Bottleneck

In the Big Bang round, teams worked on big features and tried to release everything at the very end. What we saw was very familiar to many in the room:

• The tester had to wait a long time while developers finished their activities.

• Testing became a clear bottleneck, piling up at the end.

• No real progress was visible until the very last moment.

Even though no bugs actually showed up in this session, the risks and frustrations of this release style were obvious. The experience mirrored what many teams encounter in real life: long waiting times, pressure at the end, and a fragile release moment.

Continuous Delivery: A Smoother Experience

When we switched to Continuous Delivery mode, the dynamic changed immediately.

• Teams started delivering user stories already on the first day.

• The flow of work felt smoother, with shorter waiting times.

• Even though some features were big and not all teams managed to release a complete set, there was still visible progress throughout the sprint.

Interestingly, a few teams “bent the rules” by delivering partial features — which sparked an important conversation about what “done” really means in Continuous Delivery.

The overall experience was much more positive. Instead of waiting and stressing, the teams felt in control. Delivering in smaller steps gave everyone a better sense of progress and achievement.

Why the Continuous Delivery Game Works

The real value of the game is not just the play itself but the insights it surfaces:

• Big Bang releases highlight how testing gets delayed and overloaded.

• Continuous Delivery shows how smaller increments bring earlier feedback and smoother flow.

• Discussions emerge naturally — like what “done” should mean, or how to handle large features that don’t fit neatly into a sprint.

These aren’t abstract lessons from a slide deck. They’re felt in the game. And that’s why the learning sticks.

Reflections From the Workshop

For me as a facilitator, the most rewarding part was watching how quickly people connected the dots between the game and their own delivery reality.

Some noted how testing always gets squeezed in real projects — just like in the Big Bang round. Others recognized the relief of being able to show progress earlier in Continuous Delivery. And a few were already thinking about what they could change in their pipelines to shorten waiting times.

That’s the kind of reflection and engagement that makes this exercise powerful.

Want to Try It With Your Team?

If you’d like to experience this with your own team, it doesn’t take much to set up. A few materials, some feature and user story cards, and a group ready to experiment.

I’ll be sharing some sample materials soon so you can try it out yourselves.

Continuous Delivery isn’t just about tools or pipelines — it’s about mindset and experience. And sometimes, the best way to understand it is to play your way into it.

Why This Matters at BeQE

At BeQE, we believe that quality is built through collaboration, fast feedback, and shared understanding. Games like this are more than just fun exercises — they help teams see and feel the value of Continuous Delivery.

By experiencing the pain of Big Bang releases and the flow of smaller, more frequent deliveries, teams can start important conversations about how to improve their real-world practices.

That’s what BeQE is all about: helping delivery teams and QA engineers grow into Quality Engineering professionals who don’t just talk about change, but experience it and drive it forward.