What is a key consideration during the setup of a Continuous Integration/Continuous Deployment (CI/CD) pipeline...

Automated testing throughout the pipeline is a key enabler of efficient and reliable delivery. Option B is correct because incorporating unit tests, integration tests, and security scans at different pipeline stages ensures that errors are caught early, reducing the risk of faulty code reaching production. This also accelerates delivery by providing fast, consistent feedback to developers.

Option A (single environment) undermines isolation and does not reflect real-world deployment conditions. Option C (skipping packaging) prevents reproducibility and traceability of builds. Option D (manual approvals) adds delays and reintroduces human bottlenecks, which goes against DevOps and GitOps automation principles.

Automated testing, combined with immutable artifacts and GitOps-driven deployments, aligns with platform engineering’s focus on automation, reliability, and developer experience. It reduces cognitive load for teams and enforces quality consistently.