5 Key Benefits Of True DevOps
5 Key Benefits Of True DevOps.
Remember the late-90s Internet bubble — when billions of dollars were collectively sunk into a black hole chasing the business promise perhaps best summed-up in Field Of Dreams (“If you build it, they will come”)? I think we’re rapidly approaching that point in the DevOps movement, given its clichéd overuse by countless trendy hacks who — like their late-90s Internet predecessors — have no real idea how it’s actually used to generate long-term business profitability.
So what is DevOps, and where did it come from
While a number of sources tie the term’s origin to a presentation at the 2008 Toronto Agile Summit, I would point to the 2001 Manifesto for Agile Software Development as the first public declaration of the DevOps philosophy and concept. At the same time, the concept of DevOps has been around since the inception of computing. It’s an approach I’ve always practiced — as have a number of friends and colleagues I’ve known throughout my career.
Wikipedia defines DevOps as a software engineering practice that unifies development and operation, employing automation and monitoring at all steps of software construction — from integration, testing and release to deployment and infrastructure management. The software goals are shorter development cycles, increased deployment frequency and more dependable releases, but the most critical point of DevOps practice is achieving integral alignment of technology with business objectives.
That said, let’s review the five key benefits of what I’ll call True DevOps:
Agility
DevOps ensures that your teams are prepared to adapt rapidly to changes in technology strategy, and respond rapidly to changing business demands. The development team can release new functions and features — not only on a more regular schedule, but in quicker fashion. Integrated teams and processes eliminate the traditional complications and delays that occur during handoff.
Maintaining an integrated operations team across a DevOps environment ensures there is a smooth process in place for integrating, deploying and scaling-up new software functionalities as soon as they’ve been released from engineering.
Velocity
In today’s dynamic and fluid business world, Speed To Market is a key differentiator — enabling you to be a market leader, instead of just another service provider.
With automation introduced at various stages of a DevOps process — as well as continuous integration and automated deployments — teams become more productive. Product features and functions move more rapidly to production, and in a more consistent release schedule. All of which enables faster time-to-market. Resulting in quicker adoption, increased customer satisfaction and improved ROI.
Accuracy
It’s useless being more agile, and moving with higher velocity, if you miss your mark.
True DevOps starts with clearly defined goals — then simplifies and consolidates processes, incorporating Continuous Integration — to ensure the delivery of what a business is asking for; on time, and on budget. This in turn leads to a more efficient application of resources — allowing for increased agility and velocity.
Reduced Risk
True Devops reduces the probability of manual errors and delays by integrating teams and — wherever possible — introducing proven standardized processes, methodologies and automation. Which eliminates repeated processes and complicated transitions between teams, and —in turn — the risk of errors and delays.
Establishing the primacy of Quality Assurance increases team members’ sense of ownership throughout development— which reduces one of the most costly risks: Errors becoming deeply embedded in a product. At the same time, continuous monitoring ensures that your operational state remains stable and secure — with minimal downtime.
Increased ROI
With improved user experience, faster time-to-market and agile project delivery, enterprises are better able to respond to market demands and achieve business goals. That’s how True DevOps practices directly impact profitability. That said, DevOps is not an end in itself, but a means of improving efficiency and effectiveness in delivering higher quality products — faster and at lower cost, with an overall lower TCO.
Which is why the first target for continuous improvement in True DevOps is, you guessed it, the DevOps process itself.
Feedback? contact Joe with any comments
An experienced C-Level executive with a breadth of experience in operations, sales, marketing, technology, and product development. Joe specializes in innovation and change leadership, having had success as both an entrepreneur and intrapreneur, across numerous industries including defense, insurance, telecommunications, information services and healthcare industries.
Joe relishes the opportunity to make a real difference, both in the success of the corporation and in the lives of the people he interacts with. A self-starter that neither requires nor desires large amounts of oversight having succesfully built numerous DevOps teams and Solution Architected some of the most advanced and secure utility computing applications.