Usually, the teams involved in software development (programmers, testers, system administrators) work independently of each other and solve their own problems. New products or updates are released infrequently: during the build, testing or deployment phase, there are always bugs that teams fix at the last moment, often disrupting the deadlines promised to bosses or customers.
This is a common practice, but in recent years, you may have heard about DevOps many times. This is the name of the methodology in which the developers (“Dev”) work closely with the support band for processes related to setting up environments and working with infrastructure (“Ops”). Its main principle is the cooperation of detachments that previously worked almost independently of each other, as well as the division of one large task into many other, simpler ones.
For example, one of the main principles of DevOps is CI / CD (Continuous Integration, Continuous Delivery), that is, continuous integration and continuous delivery. The practice is for developers to integrate code changes into the shared repository as often as possible (ideally several times a day). At the same moment, continuous delivery also occurs – the automated deployment of releases. So all the groups involved in the forming process can function in parallel: implement updates, test them at the same time, find errors that may arise during implementation. With this approach, you can fix software defects at an early stage.
Basically, the approach solves the problem of “how to eat an elephant”: you need to break one big release into many sequential and small releases. This method of software making helps to shorten the duty cycle while maintaining quality control at the desired level. If method is implemented not in words, but in deeds, this principle of operation has many advantages.
The main goals and objectives of DevOps
DevOps is a practice aimed at bringing together development and operations groups to build, test and release software releases quickly and reliably . It is a natural extension of agile approaches (SCRUM, Kanban, FDD and others).
The main goal of practice is to accelerate time-to-market (by applying incremental improvements in response to a changing environment) and create a more streamlined operation.
The main goal of professionals who promote the method is to bring the business, creating and interactions groups together so that all aspects of the application lifecycle are focused on business goals and objectives.
Active cooperation of all parties interested in the growth of the project allows achieving the following results:
- increase the frequency of deployments;
- speed up the process of bringing the product to market;
- reduce the bounce rate for new releases;
- speed up fixes;
- optimize the recovery process.
Top 5 benefits of practice
Rapid deployment
This is perhaps the biggest business benefit of the approach – it allows you to consistently improve your lead term. When employees work together, the development and deployment process takes an order of magnitude less time. By using this method, detachments become more efficient and can achieve business goals faster.
Opportunities for interaction with customers
When a business develops its own solutions faster, it is better able to serve customers – to set more accurate deadlines for tasks, better assess opportunities. Many companies have reported improved customer experiences since the introduction of the program. This is definitely a huge plus for business.
Team spirit
DevOps improves interaction and communication within the company. This principle of operation allows representatives of previously disparate departments to coordinate their actions more efficiently in order to ultimately release more and more sophisticated products. Collaboration and communication brings people together and builds command spirit.
More time to innovate
Implementation of development and operation practices allows you to automate and optimize processes using technologies. This leaves more room for brainstorming and generating new ideas in the schedule. The more resources a business has for innovation and improvement, the faster it will grow and succeed. The best companies in the world leave it to their employees to innovate, create new products, or try different ways to achieve better results. Ultimately it helps to expand.
Prompt problem solving
Technological problems can cost businesses a lot of money: the more time it takes to solve them, the more money comes out of the company’s budget. DevOps helps you to find problems in a timely manner and solve them in parallel with the creation of the product.
In fact, the method is one of the flexible practices, a new principle for organizing the work of a squady. Yes, it will take resources to implement it in development, but it will quickly pay off thanks to a satisfied customer.
What makes a DevOps detachment effective?
A profile engineer plays an important role in fostering a culture in a company. He is expected to bridge the gap between creating and operations groups by taking on the following responsibilities:
1. Providing feedback on failures (and their causes) at the build stage for quick fixes of problems by developers. The ability to provide ongoing feedback reduces the time it takes to troubleshoot problems at a later stage. This process is also known as continuous integration (CI).
2. Maximum automation of the assembly and release conveyor. Thus, manual effort is minimized, builds / deployments are organized, which speeds up the process of delivering the result to the customer.
3. Infrastructure management (managing servers at any stage, QA, pre-production and production) is another aspect in which the engineer plays a vital role. When cloud services like AWS are used more and more, it is much easier to do this, but infrastructure management remains the responsibility of the engineer.
Before Development and Operations, these tasks were performed by either the creators group or the operations teams. Doing the bulk of the work while assembling and releasing in parallel is time consuming. For this reason, an approach has emerged that increases the effectiveness of squadys.
To organize a command and make it effective, you need the following:
1. Align the organization’s business requirements and overall vision with the goals of the DevOps band. This will help the participants focus on specific business goals rather than just performing routine tasks.
2. Choose the right tools. An innovative set of tools and timely implementation of the technology stack will help the group maintain efficiency.
3. Measure team performance. For example:
- analyze the frequency of deployments: is it consistent with the goals of the organization?
- check safety and quality: are the safety and quality standards of the projects in line with the organization’s standards?
- check the volume of errors / bugs: what is the percentage of errors that occur and how long does it take for teams to solve them?
Conclusions
More and more organizations are planning to implement DevOps. High salaries and a large number of vacancies confirm this thesis. The most tangible benefit is fast software delivery without sacrificing quality. This goal cannot be achieved without transforming the realized process and adopting the DevOps culture, which is why it is so important to promote it among employees. This will lead to fundamental cultural changes and the modification of obsolete programming techniques. The close collaboration of the DevOps band and the consistency between create, test and production environments will make the company’s IT infrastructure more agile and efficient.