All organizations are going through tectonic shifts in the way business is done and customers are acquired. Thanks to the advent of the internet, social media channels, mobile as a device of choice of the customers and the rise of cloud of infrastructure, we are all witness to it one way or the other. Today software is inevitable to the success of any organization. This puts tremendous pressure on the way software is developed, tested, delivered, and deployed. Enter ‘DevOps’ the magic word that seems to be having the solution to today’s burgeoning software demands.
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This blog delves into the aspects of how to get your organization on the journey of DevOps. Here is a six point agenda to fast-track your organization’s entry into the DevOps world :
Show the Holistic Picture
IT organizations have long been plagued by the issue of software projects getting scrapped, delayed delivery of software, unexpected issues that bring the whole process to a grinding halt, bugs that are hard to find but pose a grave threat and so on. So with DevOps it is possible to get rid of all these problems in order to ensure the two departments of IT development and IT operations are more in line with the company goals and it is one well-oiled streamlined machine that works with heightened efficiency. This is looking at the same issues from a bigger picture since every bottleneck in the efficient delivery of the software means the company is losing serious money and this is not good for any company.
The Importance of Shared Responsibility
Today’s software projects are anything but simple and this makes it impossible for any team to handle all the responsibility and take the accountability. This is where the things breakdown because everybody is passing the buck and nobody is taking ownership. DevOps ensures that the various teams work in close coordination. Nobody is off limits. If there is an issue then it concerns all since it has to be solved with the coordination of everybody concerned. Until now the developers did not know anything about operational difficulties and the operations teams did not know anything about bug fixing and so on. This is all set to change with the DevOps advent for good.
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The Need for Automation
Automation is one of the biggest advantages of the DevOps process. Since there are so many processes and protocols in the software lifecycle that can be effectively automated, it becomes imperative to automate these key processes to speed up things, bring in increased efficiencies, reduce the workload on the employees and streamline the whole process. Automation can be applied to various steps like code testing, monitoring, deploying the right servers and infrastructure for doing the right jobs, running end-to-end tests, collecting the vital metrics and so on.
All this ensures that the since there is no human intervention there are no more human-related errors too which have for long been the bane of IT organizations since humans inevitably are prone to mistakes and this can cost the company dearly. Automation brings in the much needed standardization and improved efficiency levels.
Adopting an Agile Work Culture
Today’s organizations are agile organizations. DevOps springs from the agile methodology of software development. So to get your organization on the path of DevOps you need to first embrace the agile work culture. DevOps is then easier to implement thanks to the DevOps principles being able to build on the agile manifesto. Speed is one of the most important results that come out of the agile methodology and it is speed that defines today’s winners from losers.
Harnessing the Cloud
Cloud is one of the most important aspects when it comes to the way DevOps is deployed in an enterprise setup. Cloud makes the whole process that much more agile since agility is the cornerstone of any DevOps implementation. Cloud ensures that the IT infrastructure is available on demand, that there is no stoppage in the services, and there is increased collaboration between the functional and operational aspects of the IT domain. Thus cloud implementation centralizes the processes and systems and makes sure there are no silos in the various teams and departments.
Effective Talent Management
Managing the talent is one of the biggest hurdles that IT organizations face when they transition to the new way of doing things in the DevOps scenario. Most of the IT workforce is accustomed to working in the siloed business setup which is detrimental to DevOps implementation. So there should be a conscious effort to building new knowledge, skills and inculcating the virtue of working in a cooperative team setup. Cross-functional knowledge would be a real boon since the developers need to know about the operational standpoint and the operations team people need to understand the nuances of software coding.