Get a grip on CI/CD – Interview with Maciek Palmowski

Why smart automation beats broken weekends and burnt budgets?

Maciek Palmowski, Developer Advocate Analyst at Kinsta, joined Osom Studio’s Maciej Nowak to demystify what CI/CD means in the WordPress world—and why even small teams can’t afford to ignore it anymore.

This isn’t a tutorial on pipelines or deployment tools. It’s a firsthand look at how CI/CD is already transforming agency workflows, saving dev time, and preventing Friday deployments from becoming horror stories.

CI/CD meaning

At the core of the episode is Maciek’s blunt clarity: CI/CD isn’t one fixed process—it’s a mindset. And more importantly, it’s an investment.

CI stands for Continuous Integration. It means you run all your tests every time something changes in your codebase. CD? That’s either Continuous Delivery or Continuous Deployment. Depends who you ask.

He breaks it down simply: CI ensures your code doesn’t break anything by automating tests. CD ensures you can ship that code—either by pressing a button or letting the system do it for you.

But don’t let the simplicity fool you. The transition to automation isn’t a switch you flip—it’s a series of habits.

No tests? You’re saving pennies and burning thousands.

Maciek confronts the most common excuse for not adopting CI/CD: “We don’t have time for that.”

Not writing tests saves time… until you’re fixing bugs on production. That’s when your budget disappears.

His response? It’s not just risky. It’s shortsighted.Without automated tests and deployments, you’re gambling with your time, your team’s sanity, and your client relationships. Even minimal tests—unit tests, linting, simple scenario validations—can catch regressions before they hit production.

CI/CD sounds expensive upfront. But firefighting broken features is way more expensive.

 

Anything you do twice? Script it.

For Maciek, the power of CI/CD lies in small, consistent automations.

Every time you find yourself repeating something—copying files, setting up environments, running a script—you’re wasting time. Just write it into your CI.

This mindset isn’t reserved for complex applications. Even freelance WordPress devs or small agencies can benefit.

He cites an example: creating staging environments. Instead of manually downloading files and configuring servers, write a short script. Use curl, define a shell routine, and let CI handle it.

The goal is simple: reduce friction, reduce mistakes, and increase speed.

Continuous Deployment on Fridays? Only if you like chaos.

If your test suite isn’t airtight, pushing to production on Friday could ruin your weekend.

Maciek doesn’t mince words. Fully automated deployments—true Continuous Deployment—are powerful, but also risky if misused.

He cautions that most teams aren’t ready to go full-auto. Not because the tech is hard, but because their test coverage isn’t robust enough to catch edge cases.

Instead, he advocates for a hybrid model: CI with manual approvals. Test automation handles the grunt work, and humans give the final go-ahead.

That balance? It lets teams ship faster—without sacrificing control.

Think like a developer. But act like an operator.

Beyond definitions and tactics, the biggest takeaway from Maciek’s perspective is philosophical.

CI/CD is more than automation. It’s about shifting your mental model—from lone coder to collaborative builder. From ad hoc releases to repeatable delivery. From reactive firefighting to proactive control.

And it’s not optional anymore.

In the WordPress world, we’re used to cowboy coding. But if you want to build for the long term? CI/CD is the discipline you need.

CI/CD lets you focus on what actually matters—delivering value. The rest? Let machines handle it.