DevOps Philosophy

According to Gartner,

“Sometimes called Agile done right, DevOps is a philosophy and a way of life for many successful enterprises even though there is no definitive framework or defining authority. Continual learning and improvement are at the heart of DevOps and so even if organizations start at the same place, they will be significantly different in just a few cycles.”

DevOps is not all about rapid software development. It promotes a collaborative environment where teams can be more efficient and software development is largely error-free, efficient, and user-centric. DevOps aims to shorten the development lifecycle and improve the quality of software. If your organization is doing DevOps, then everyone in the team must be involved in the overall DevOps discipline which focuses on strong collaboration and early feedback. Gartner refers to DevOps as ‘not a market, but a tool-centric philosophy that supports a continuous delivery value chain’.

When you are trying to consider something philosophical, then there are a few things which are certain:

You will be able to think rationally regarding a certain issue or a problem.
You can analyze and solve issues with a broader perspective.
You will have a clear vision and will be able to think independently and clearly.

And when you accept ‘DevOps as a philosophy’ that too along with DevOps tools, the software development approach will also be transferred to far-reaching and faster software delivery which is aligned with user feedback at each stage. There are several traditional models of software development like a waterfall, spiral, iterative and much more. On the contrary, DevOps is a new culture based on Agile principles wherein the importance is towards the approach, processes and quality of the software that too at a shorter period of time.

‘DevOps as a Philosophy’ can help in building a mindset. Stronger mindsets working towards fundamental changes help companies to work wonders. There’s always a need for constant connection and a quality-driven mindset in today’s digital era. In today’s scenarios, DevOps concepts can help you reap the benefits of synchronization to deliver value with the help of customer-centric software solutions.

Why does DevOps transition become hard for organisation?

The journey to DevOps is quite a time-taking and painful for most of the organizations in the market because,

People don’t like change
Lack of coordination in groups and limited focus
The irrational expectation of automation
Lack of organizational change.

Remember,

“People, not process, are the most common cause of DevOps failures”

George Spafford, Research Director at Gartner

What are the 4 beliefs of DevOps Thinking?

According to SIAM Foundation of Knowledge DevOps is a flexible philosophy and not a standard or a framework with prescriptive processes. The core values that Body of Knowledge has noted are:

Ownership and Accountability

Teams are fully committed right from concept adoption to product delivery. For Example, ‘throwing it over the wall’ is not allowed. If you think you don’t like the sound of ‘that is not my work’, in such case you are really going to like DevOps.

System Thinking

The performance of the entire system overweighs the performance of a specific sort of work or department. Implementing DevOps will impact the performance and efficiency of the entire organisation.

Continuous experimentation and learning

Organisations need to be on par with the constantly changing circumstances. Measurement is the key towards continuous learning because you cannot improve on something that cannot be measured. Usage of smart monitoring tools and services helps you achieve the goals in letting your developer and other teams attain free time and help them innovate something new.

Automation

This ensures faster feedback throughout the DevOps pipeline. Faster feedback is ensured through the usage of adequate tools. Automation lets you save time and effort by eliminating redundant tasks.

Along with competitive DevOps tools, it’s very hard to come to a conclusion as to what the perfect setup will look like? When DevOps philosophy and its tools come together improves your application and how users interact with it. When DevOps philosophy and tools together can help you empower your team for successful DevOps implementation as a reality into your workspace. DevOps is the combination of tools and the philosophy applied behind those tools. So, does this philosophy best suit your organizational needs?