DevOps is a set of practices that combines software development (Dev) and IT operations (Ops). It aims to shorten the systems development life cycle and provide continuous delivery with high software quality. DevOps is complementary with Agile software development; several DevOps aspects came from Agile methodology.
We all know if you want to succeed in today’s business world, you need two key things. One, Business Stability & Second, Adaptability. DevOps (Development & Operations) is not a job title or role. This is a software development approach which combines development and operations to enable an agility which dims the differences between software development and operations.
Many companies consider DevOps as a challenge, rather than seeing it as an opportunity. An opportunity which can take your software development process to a new level. 67% of the SMEs & 47% of larger enterprises have adopted DevOps in their software engineering services.DevOps implementation is not easy. It has faced extensive challenges which need to be resolved before DevOps becomes the permanent work culture.
"DevOps is not a Goal, But a Never Ending Process of Continual Improvement"
Change is always difficult. Both for a business and also for an employee. But, facing those tough challenges and succeeding with innovation is what makes a difference.
Goals of DevOps: Velocity, Quality, PerformanceThe main goals of DevOps are velocity, quality and application performance. You want to ship code as fast and often as possible. How fast you can do this will vary wildly based on your type of product, team, and risk tolerance. Even if you don’t track any DevOps metrics around your velocity, you should at least measure how you are doing on quality. Perhaps you try to ship when you can, and you don’t really care how fast exactly. However, you always care about quality. The last thing you want is to be chasing production fires all the time. The third piece of the equation is performance. You could argue that it is also at odds with your goals of high velocity and quality. Performance is also related to quality, but perhaps a little different.
Development v/s Operations The entire concept of DevOps based on a collaborative effort from different teams to produce quick results. But, various individuals failed to understand this concept. Developers usually play with codes in order to build an innovative product. During the course of a development cycle, sometimes they do experiments to identify the best possible path. They even make changes in a quick succession. At the same time, operations team always try to achieve the highest level of quality in terms of product features and functionalities.
They always assume developers deploy untested code in production, which produce a sloppy product. This is what creates difficulties. Two teams, who supposed to work together, work on different mind-set and objectives. At the end, it creates project delays, more complexities, and lesser scope of innovation. The first challenge a company will face is to blend different people, teams together to work on a single goal.
Key Highlights of DevOps
Quicker and faster software delivery
Stable operating environments
Early detection and faster correction of defects
Transparency and Collaboration across teams
Continuous release and deployment
Continuous testing
Continuous monitoring
Reduced time to market
Improved quality
DevOps – Why, What, How & Who?
Why: Increase business benefits by reducing the transaction cost associated with delivering incremental change.
What (Goal): Clarity, consistency, and collaboration to understand the changes that each release brings to the IT and customer environments
How: Methodology and tools that continue to evolve
Who: Developers, QA, and Operations
How is DevOps different from agile methodology? DevOps is a culture that allows the development and the operations team to work together. This results in continuous development, testing, integration, deployment, and monitoring of the software throughout the lifecycle. DevOps addresses gaps and conflicts between the Developers and IT Operations.
Agile is a software development methodology that focuses on iterative, incremental, small, and rapid releases of software, along with customer feedback. It addresses gaps and conflicts between the customer and developers.