DevOps
What is DevOps?
DevOps is a set of practices designed to automate the processes between software development and IT teams, aimed at building, testing and releasing software faster and more reliably. DevOps is founded on building a culture of collaboration between teams that historically functioned in relative isolation to one another. The benefits include increased trust, faster software releases, ability to solve critical issues quickly, and better manage unplanned work.
DevOps is bringing together the best of software development and IT operations.
At its essence, DevOps is a culture, a movement, a philosophy. It’s a firm handshake between development and operations, hence the name DevOps. It emphasizes a shift in mindset, better collaboration, and tighter integration. It unites agile, continuous delivery, automation, and much more, to help development and operations teams be more efficient, innovate faster, and deliver higher value to businesses and customers.
History of DevOps
The DevOps as a movement began to coalesce sometime between 2007 and 2008, when IT operations and software development communities got vocal about what they felt was a fatal level of dysfunction in the industry.
They rallied against the traditional software development model, which required for those who write the code to be organizationally and functionally apart from those who deploy and support that code.
Developers and IT/Ops professionals had separate and often competing objectives, separate department leadership, separate key performance indicators (KPIs) by which they were judged, and often worked on separate floors or even separate buildings. This resulted in mutually isolated teams concerned only with their own fiefdoms, long hours, botched releases, and unhappy customers.
The two communities got together and started communicating to obtain a better way to do things. – with people like Patrick Dubois, Gene Kim, and John Willis driving the conversation.
What started in online forums and local meetups is now a major theme in the software landscape. Are you and your teams suffering from similar broken lines of communication?
The bad news is that DevOps isn’t magic, and transformations don’t happen overnight. The good news is that you don’t have to wait for upper management to roll out a large-scale initiative. By understanding the value of DevOps and making small, incremental changes, your team can embark on the DevOps journey right away. Let’s look at each of these benefits in detail.
What’s in it for you?
Collaboration and trust
Culture is the #1 success factor in DevOps. Building a culture of shared responsibility, transparency and faster feedback is the foundation of every high performing DevOps team.
Release faster and work smarter
Speed is everything. Teams that practice DevOps release more frequently, with higher quality and stability.
Accelerate time to resolution
The team with the fastest feedback loop is the team that thrives. Full transparency and seamless communication enable DevOps teams to minimize downtime and resolve issues faster than ever before.
Better manage unplanned work
Unplanned work is a reality that every team faces–a reality that most often impacts team productivity. With established processes and clear prioritization, the Dev and Ops teams can better manage unplanned work while continuing to focus on planned work.