When you are thinking of “orchestrating your digital transformation” you need to have, as part of your repertoire, the DevOps practice, and when it is done properly, your delivery cycle will become a “well played symphony”.
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First: What is DevOps?
DevOps, as defined in Scaled Agile framework, “DevOps is a mindset, a culture, and a set of technical practices. It provides communication, integration, automation, and close cooperation among all the people needed to plan, develop, test, deploy, release, and maintain a Solution.”
DevOps is the combination of development and operations. Since its inception it has provided a collaborative approach supporting work distribution where multiple groups work together for the delivery.
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| Photo by logicwork |
The DevOps cycle consist of six (6) phases which combine with Agile frameworks, contributes to exploration, continuous integration, continuous deployment and release on demand. The phases are:
- Plan,
- Build,
- Continuously integrate and deploy (CI/CD),
- Monitor,
- Operate, and
- Respond to continuous feedback.
DevOps and the pandemic
The Covid-19 era has dramatically impacted the workforce due to working remotely, which is no longer just convenient (or a perk), but rather the path that was needed for keeping companies operational. Two (2) years later, with the year 2022 knocking at our doors, working remotely has become a way of life because of the benefits it provides to companies, as well as their employees. Majority of the employees are experiencing additional flexibility as a result of the fully remote or the hybrid office model.
DevOps provides the agility, consistency, and flexibility for companies to continue delivering on software enhancements, bug fixes, upgrades, and others to keep their operations going. It does that while allowing remote collaboration between the different teams that contribute to the development cycle, bending the boundaries of geo-location and time-zones.
Those companies that have a well established DevOps process, with qualified engineers have an edge over others. This is because having technical skills are no longer enough. You need engineers with the proper balance of soft and tech skills to navigate the business and technical conversations. Engineers must clearly communicate the “value”, as well as to effectively explain the delivery plan, and the challenges (if any) that comes with it.
There is a shortage of this “talent” in these "COVID-19 era", where companies (and society in general) are susceptible, still after two (~2) years, to its impact; forcing everyone to an accelerated digital transformation that has surprised many in the areas of culture, people, capabilities, and processes. But the good news is that it provides a good opportunity for many to up-their-skills, allowing them to become those types of leaders and managers that contribute to better outcomes for the company's processes and product/services delivery via the DevOps and DevSecOps.
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Photo by
Brett Sayles from Pexels
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…These findings are echoed in the recent DevOps Institute Upskilling 2020: Enterprise DevOps Skills Report. Based on 1,300 respondents, this survey found more than 50% of enterprises are challenged managing the people and the processes that make DevOps possible. Most respondents (61%) also said interpersonal skills are crucial.
Final remarks
Building Webapps or mobile apps, OS features, front-office or back-office systems have moved from On-premise and long periods of time between deployments to cloud-based with monthly, weekly or even daily deployments, leveraging continuous delivery tactics such as “dark launches” and “feature toggles”.
Agile frameworks and DevOps are here to help you with your company's culture shift and the efficiencies of its operations by providing consistency and keeping security in mind, allowing your business to stay competitive in a demanding market. It does not matter if you are a startup, or a well-established company (and a well-known brand), the need for constant improvement, learning and innovation is evergreen/ever-present. If you are late to board that train you will eventually be left behind.
