Three things to know about DevOps in 2020

Knowing the Three C’s (3C’s) of DevOps

Culture, Collaboration, and Continous Change (Integration & Deployment) are the three fundamental principles of the ever-growing popular approach to software delivery, currently referred to as “DevOps.” Coined in 2009 by Patrick Debois, the term (Development and Operations) can be viewed as an extension of Agile and Lean development environments that aims to enhance the software delivery process as an entity. Definitely, there are many controversies over the correct definition of DevOps.

1. DevOps is the next generation of Agile
Perspectives differ on where Agile fits into DevOps (or how DevOps fits into Agile). Some see it as DevOps vs. Agile, while others see them as two sides of an equivalent methodological coin. Others would say that Agile enables DevOps to exist. Since 2009, more IT professionals began to move away from the traditional waterfall approach and adopt a non-linear agile methodology by making each stage of development independent and incorporating continuous testing from the start and throughout the event cycle.

Consequently, this approach improved efficiency and reduced risk by allowing developers to make immediate changes before getting to production, and supported the continuous feedback they received. While Agile methods had always improved development, there was still some discrepancy when it came to Agile implementation, which still embraced the waterfall methodology.

While development wants to be Agile to scale back risk and increase efficiency, the implementation stuck to the linear waterfall structure, slowing the delivery and leaving testing for the top of the method, a process that wrongly divided ownership. This created big bottlenecks in delivery cycles because developers would need to start over if a drag was discovered near the top of the deployment.

2. DevOps needs a Cultural Shift
DevOps is not only about fancy tools or automation methods , it’s more of a Cultural Shift. Changes of any type are often feared in most organisations, hence adopting new methodologies is often a challenging and complex task. Therefore, it’s vital to first define the business need that initiated the discussion about the potential change, and also the challenges that accompany it.

The cultural shift is key element in determining the success of DevOps implementation within an organization.

Today, companies are expected to quickly deliver flawless applications that specialise in best user experience, but without the proper toolchain, team collboration, and behaviour, this seemingly “Walk in the park” process can become a big mess. Ultimately, a defective or broken software delivery means lost business opportunities.

The DevOps culture can only shape-up in environments where everyone agrees with the philosophy. You would like to have a proper blend of correct technology, situational assessment, and attitude for successful software development and delivery.

If everyone within the organization is on the same page and understands the need of clear and consistent communication, developing collaborative work environment, taking ownership and accountability of your work and being transparent with other teams, then the sky is the limit for their success.

3. DevOps needs Unified, Multi-skilled teams (No more Silos)
The evolution of development methodology over the last decade has seen the emergence of new roles, from the Systems-Admins to the SRE, then from the SRE to a full fledged DevOps engineer. Therefore, this career path is common to ascertain on the resumes of the many people within the world of developers and engineers, because the required methodologies and expectations that are expected of latest employees evolve.

As mentioned above, collaboration, communication, and integration are the key elements for incorporating DevOps into any development and delivery environment. Building multipurpose teams that are made from individual talents (for example, developers, sysadmins, and testers) are often of great benefit, but without the proper teamwork and attitude, talent is practically useless. When people know they will trust everyone else, the group as an entity also moves more quickly and efficiently, ultimately resulting in happier customers.

The first step during a DevOps approach involves recognizing how software development, IT operations, and internal control are mutually hooked in to one another. As mentioned above, DevOps relies on cross-department collaboration and open communication between key players within the software delivery process to drive operational efficiency, predictability, and maintainability. Integrating and automating these elements early within the process enables teams to expire software delivery.

While implementing Devops, the quality and delivery of the solution is the single key priority and becomes common goals of all the stakeholders involved, hence the boundaries of roles and responsibilities of different teams become indistinct.

DevOps is the way forward for Enterprise Software
Modern business applications are built with complexities that still continues to grow, thanks to the use of various technologies, multiple end-user devices, and especially process like DevOps that help simplify the complex development and operations ways of doing work and help in delivering a great quality software product at a faster pace.

Going forward Devops is the new way that modern businesses need to adopt for a faster, smarter and high-quality delivery of products.