DevOps (an abbreviation of developer operations) is the marriage between software development and IT operation. It's a term used to describe practices and technologies aimed at bringing together software engineers and IT professionals to produce software more efficiently.
In this blog post, we'll cover the main principles of DevOps and its interrelation with Agile. It can be challenging for teams that are new to both concepts at the same time, but they really make sense when taken in their entirety. In other words, by following these steps, you'll be able to create an effective DevOps culture within your organization.
So, how do agile and DevOps interrelate?
What is DevOps?
DevOps is a transformation aimed at integrating the software development and operations teams from a business perspective. It's a combination of techniques found in Lean and Agile methodologies, and it's used to transform the way organizations produce software.
DevOps merges the disciplines of development and operations to create a more efficient process that successfully addresses the challenges faced by businesses today. DevOps is an umbrella term that describes a set of processes aimed at bridging the gap between software development and IT operations.
I think this is the first key to explaining how agile and DevOps interrelate. In a more traditional approach, there are generally a series of handoffs between different responsibilities in an organization. When trying to understand how agile and DevOps work together, start by visualizing a world where handoffs do not happen anymore. This will immediately produce savings over the life cycle of your products.
Agile teams are also unique in their own right when compared to a more traditional organizational structure. An agile team is going to consistently be reviewing their development processes for areas of improvement. This is going to allow for meaningful growth and promote a model focused on Continuous integration and continuous delivery.
What Makes DevOps Different from Other Methodologies?
DevOps integrates the development and operations teams into a single functional delivery team. From a business perspective, it focuses on creating product delivery cycles that solve real problems instead of just churning out code for the sake of producing code.
By combining these disciplines developers can spend less time dealing with the complexities of big bang releases and more time creating new rapidly developed incremental features. This is because the process is automated.
This helps organizations achieve high software quality, fast delivery, and easier adaptation to the market. To end-users, DevOps looks like this: When a team of developers wants to create a new feature, they can rapidly plan, prototype, adjust, and release that feature to start realizing the value of that work.
Agile development methodologies are usually found with any functional DevOps team. When looking at a more traditional project management methodology like Waterfall, anyone trying to implement DevOps will generally stop short at automating infrastructure as code. A project utilizing the Agile DevOps methodology will take that several steps further.
An Agile DevOps team will focus on automating the entire process. Continuous integration will be utilized as a cornerstone to build a robust framework to test and deploy their software. The end goal is to transition into a model of continuous delivery to enable many releases to production in a single day.
Day 2 operations will be integrated into their technology pipelines as well. Tools and automation will be built to take care of more routine tasks such as certificate renewals or auto-remediation. Because DevOps pipelines are test-driven, future unexpected changes are also quickly identified and fixed much more easily.
What Makes a More Traditional SDLC Risky?
When working with a software technique that is more traditional, the program is developed in a manner similar to an assembly line, with larger modifications contributing to greater risk.
New features are approved and then tested, followed by regression, and finally deployed to production. This is the most traditional way to work with code. However, it is not always the most efficient way to work with code.
Changes to the code base should be approached from the perspective of the risk involved with any change. When working with big changes in the code base, it is important to look at the big picture of the software. If you are only focused on one aspect of the software, even though it might be the most crucial aspect, you risk overlooking something else that is just as important.
Big-picture thinking is achieved by working with the whole software. If you are building a new feature, you need to start with a new branch of the code base. Without testing the new code, you risk breaking something else in the software. Once you are sure there are no errors in the new code, you can start the testing process. After you are certain the new code has no bugs, you can release it to your production environment.
When the process relies on larger changes, with more complex processes, and more opinions about quality in every decision being made down the assembly line there is a higher likelihood that project timelines will slip or never be delivered at all.
The Importance of Collaboration in DevOps
DevOps is the marriage between software development and IT operations. It's a term used to describe practices and technologies aimed at bringing together software engineers and IT professionals to produce software more efficiently.
In this marriage, there must be a collaboration between the teams involved. This collaboration allows for a better understanding of each other's roles, and for the shared goal of creating better software with minimal time and effort.
DevOps is key to transforming the operations side of an organization and allowing everyone involved to create high-quality, reliable software. And collaboration between the teams is what allows for this.
Establishing a Culture of Collaboration for Success in DevOps
Before you can start implementing DevOps in your organization, you need to establish a culture of collaboration between the teams involved. DevOps is a marriage between teams, and successful marriages are built on communication and a mutual understanding of what both parties bring to the table.
To create this culture, you'll want to start by determining which members of your organization are involved in the transformation. You can do this by identifying the individuals who are responsible for bringing the different teams together (such as product managers, architects, developers, and operations staff).
You can also do a deeper dive into how the teams interact with each other. Ask yourself:
- What information does each team need from the other?
- What do they do with that information?
- What are their roles and responsibilities?
This will help you determine where the gaps are between the teams and what needs to change.
What is Agile?
Agile methodology has a long history of use in the field of software development, but its recent rise to prominence can be attributed to the DevOps movement.
The term "agile" refers to a collection of approaches that are built on the principles of rapid and evolutionary development. To do this, you must first identify the requirements of your company and then devise goods and services to fulfill those requirements.
This kind of development is frequently referred to as evolutionary development, and it is intended to be a process that occurs in an ongoing manner. This indicates that in order to adapt to the changes that are occurring in your company, you will need to tweak your processes in the appropriate manner.
In comparison to more conventional methods of development, such as waterfall, evolutionary development offers a number of distinct benefits. The Waterfall methodology is one that centers on a single target release date, and it is frequently utilized in traditional methodology.
The Importance of Agility in Digital Development
Agile development emphasizes the need for constant communication and collaboration between the teams responsible for product development. This communication is key to the success of the transformation, and it's achieved by bringing together architects, product managers, developers, and operations staff.
By bringing everyone together, you'll be able to understand their roles and responsibilities and make adjustments as necessary. And, most importantly, you'll be able to communicate better and collaborate.
By developing products and services that respond to the needs of your customers, you'll be able to create better software with minimal effort.
When you develop products that your customers actually want, they're going to be much happier with your software. It's important to remember that creating customer value is the goal of every business process. Finding ways to make your own business process more efficient is important, but it's even more critical to focus on customer value.
Interaction Between Agile and DevOps Principles
Many people are under the assumption that DevOps and Agile are two different methods, when, in fact, they're both about rapid, continuous improvement. There are some differences between them, but both focus on bringing the best out of their team members.
Both DevOps and Agile are about collaboration between teams, and both aim to create high-quality, reliable software. But clearly, there are differences between the two. Let's take a look at some of the similarities between the two methodologies.
Both DevOps and Agile work best when they are integrated. The goal of an integrated approach is to produce high-quality software as quickly as possible. Through the collaboration between developers, testers, operations staff, and other members of the team, you can achieve a faster turnaround time for your software.
To make this collaboration possible, teams must adhere to certain principles such as communication, consistency, and agility.
Additionally, an integrated DevOps and Agile approach can help to reduce the risk of software defects. To accomplish this, you must work with your team to create automated tests for your software.
By integrating DevOps and Agile development processes, you can increase your team's overall quality. Through testing, you can catch problems before they are shipped to customers. Operations can also be integrated into the process, reducing bottlenecks and increasing the speed of software releases.
These principles aren't rigid rules; rather, they're guidelines for implementing good practices for developing software and delivering it more efficiently. They aren't meant to replace traditional methods of doing business or IT operations; rather, they complement them in order to achieve greater results as quickly as possible.
Being Agile with DevOps
Agile thinking forms the foundation of DevOps. It's a strategy for agile software development and software delivery that you can use. Because of this, software developers and IT operations specialists need to work closely together to provide a superior product in the shortest period of time possible.
Being Lean with DevOps
Although the implementation of lean principles in DevOps is distinct from their application in traditional lean techniques, its significance cannot be understated. These guiding principles provide an emphasis on ongoing processes of continuous improvement, ongoing learning, and ongoing feedback. The overarching objective is to lessen the amount of waste produced during the process while simultaneously improving product quality.
Limitations of Traditional Methods of Software Development
If you wish to be able to react to changing business needs, traditional techniques place their emphasis on the generation of a single authoritative version of the truth. This can be a constraint. On the other hand, DevOps is all about continual change, which means that it might be difficult to adjust to it. The necessity to be agile is a fundamental difference between DevOps and traditional approaches, despite the fact that the two are related.
Advantages of DevOps over Traditionally practiced methodologies
The primary advantage that DevOps has over more conventional techniques is that it enables businesses to develop higher-quality software with far less work. With conventional approaches to software development, such as the Waterfall technique, there is a strong likelihood that the product will not be delivered on time and within the allotted budget; this can be a substantial obstacle. When it comes to DevOps, on the other hand, it is essential to keep in mind that there is a distinction between developing higher-quality software and merely developing a greater quantity of it.
Conclusion
DevOps is a transformation aimed at bringing together the disciplines of development and operations to produce high-quality software. It's a marriage between the teams involved, and it needs to be built on communication and collaboration. DevOps is key to transforming operations and allowing everyone to create high-quality, reliable software. And collaboration between teams is what allows for this. DevOps is the marriage between software engineers and IT professionals.
