If you want to build better software faster, DevOps is your answer.
DevOps is, of course, a combination of development (Dev) and operations (Ops) but is more than just a process. DevOps is a culture.
Despite the rise of agile methodology, development and operations teams remained siloed for years. DevOps is the next evolution of collaboration tools and practices to develop better software, faster.
Undoubtedly, adopting DevOps is highly beneficial. However, it is important first to discover its need and learn how to implement its principles. This blog will highlight all the important points organizations need to know about implementing DevOps. Let’s start the blog with a simple explanation of DevOps.
What exactly is DevOps?
The best way to describe DevOps is as a team of people working together to create, develop, and deliver applications and services faster than traditional software development processes. It is a set of practices, tools, and a cultural philosophy that enables organizations to better serve their customers and compete more effectively in the market.
Stemming from an Agile approach to software development, DevOps practices enable the development and operations teams to accelerate delivery through collaboration, automation, faster feedback, and iterative improvement.
DevOps touches every phase of the development and operations lifecycle right from planning and building to monitoring and iterating, It helps eliminate repetitive and manual tasks, makes development and maintenance easier, and at the same time helps reliably deliver an optimum experience for end users.
Signs your company needs DevOps
Each company faces its own challenges, but some common signs to know if your company needs DevOps include releases that take too long, software that doesn’t meet expectations, and IT that limits business growth. Let’s see some common signs in detail below.
1. Development and Operations teams continue to work in silos, organized independently, and a long way from aligning objectives, strategies, procedures, methods, and tools.
2. The organization is working with fragile applications that have little availability or tolerance and you discover defects in production (which could have been anticipated). The team stops to fix the incidents, causing a backlog of planned work and increasing the amount of “re-work”.
3. It is difficult to identify whether the problems come from Development, Testing, or Operations because most issues arise after the developers have finished their work.
4. Every time a problem arises, it is difficult to work out who is responsible, leading to the “blame game” – pointing at and blaming each other.
5. Communication between departments is inefficient and sometimes misinterpreted.
6. Deployment between environments is manual and documented via a large number of steps.
7. Human errors are being committed that wreak havoc during the development and deployment phases.
8. Due to all the above, the execution cycle times for deployments last days or even weeks, instead of hours and/or minutes.
9. The testing to validate that the deployment has been carried out correctly is done manually.
10. There are many projects queued up that cannot be started because there are not enough resources available, and the so-called “Shadow IT” is particularly problematic in creating bottlenecks.
11. Agile methodologies are used during the development process, but any advantage gained disappears when the software passes to the team responsible for deploying it to a production environment.
12. The Development team believes that its work and responsibility have come to an end after its release into production.
13. There is constantly too much “work in progress” (WIP), that is, undeployed changes (for example, new functionality or applications).
14. The IT infrastructure is becoming increasingly complex, with physical, virtualized, and Cloud-based elements.
Adopting the DevOps practice is essential, but determining when a team or organization should leverage and implement it is equally important. Know what are the best practices to adopt DevOps.
What benefits you will have after implementing DevOps?
DevOps has several business and technical benefits, many of which can result in happier customers. Here are some prime benefits that a company can experience after adopting the DevOps way of working.
1. Fewer silos and increased communications between IT groups
DevOps enables technical and business teams to collaborate more seamlessly, leading to shorter feedback mechanisms and increasing company growth.
2. Faster time to market for software
With DevOps methodology, all of the departments are responsible for maintaining stability and offering new features. Therefore, the speed of software delivery is fast and undisturbed, unlike the traditional method.
3. Rapid improvement based on feedback
Every user hopes for a satisfactory and bug-free experience when using the software. DevOps makes this possible by reducing errors and ensuring that client needs and feedback are quickly addressed and implemented.
4. Automation in the development process
DevOps helps in detecting and correcting problems quickly and efficiently. As the flaws are repeatedly tested through automation, the team gets more time in framing new ideas.
5. Streamlined development processes through increased responsibility and code ownership in the development
DevOps is all about working together and doing it fast. Rethinking QA automation, availability of staging servers, how tasks are divided between Dev QA and Ops, etc. can have a profound impact on a business’s success. DevOps introduces a set of work culture practices and principles that add discipline and efficiency to the software development lifecycle.
Get Started with your DevOps journey!
The DevOps journey doesn’t start overnight. Many companies start with a pilot project – a simple application where they can get a feel for new practices and tools.
Adopting DevOps first requires a commitment to evaluating and possibly changing or removing any teams, tools, or processes your organization currently uses. It means building the necessary infrastructure to give teams the autonomy to build, deploy, and manage their products.
Implementing a DevOps culture adds great value to your enterprise and spans the entire product delivery pipeline. At Scalex, we use the latest technologies to automate & measure the performance of the delivery pipeline. Know more about our DevOps Consulting Services.
Susan Smith
Susan is a technical writer who believes that world's best technologies work on logic and go beyond the boundaries of possibilities. She loves writing about the latest technical advancements and believes technology is a synonym for change.