Continuous Integration for Digital Design

Challenges and benefits of applying Agile methods to hardware development: In 2001, the Manifesto for Agile Software Development [1] laid the foundation for many modern software development processes. Today, 20 years later, agile methods are in widespread use in numerous domains. Out of the participants in the study Status Quo (Scaled) Agile 2020 [2], only 9% still relied on classic project management methods. One core element of the agile method is continuous change. This can only work if potential problems from changes are identified as early as possible. For this reason, Continuous Integration (CI) has become an essential tool in software development. This involves frequent integration of changes and testing with an automated process. Additional steps, such as generating metrics, documentation or even delivering the build, may be part of what is called the CI pipeline.