It's either DevOps or you're out!

Roughly speaking, DevOps is about improving communication between teams involved in the implementation of a software project - with the goal, of course, of getting a better product and shorter release cycles in the end.

This is easier said than done, because many IT teams still have a silo mentality instead of real team spirit. But this is exactly what is needed for IT projects to be implemented successfully and on time - and, incidentally, to be fun again.

The fact that many teams are currently converting to DevOps or have long since done so is also shown by the current study by Sonatype.

"This year's survey results prove that companies everywhere are transforming their development from waterfall-native to DevOps-native tools and processes"

Wayne Jackson, CEO Sonatype, explains.

First the work, then the pleasure?

Speaking of fun: Patrick Debois, one of the initiators of the DevOps movement, sums it up in his famous statement:

"And remember it's all about putting the fun back into IT!"

So there should finally be an end to the mutual recriminations between the development department and operations. After all, when working in an agile manner - and that means frequent deployment and constant feedback from the customer - two opposing interests basically collide:

While development is interested in fast and frequent releases, operations would prefer to avoid new releases. This is precisely what regularly leads to conflicts, recriminations and bad moods.

And - very important - the quality of the projects falls by the wayside! The customer doesn't care if the application doesn't run because the code is faulty or because there are problems with the live environment.

At the heart of the DevOps movement is the desire to create value for the customer. Donovan Brown, DevOps specialist at Microsoft and keynote speaker at Developer Week, agrees:

"I would say value creation is the true essence of DevOps, and communication is key to continuously delivering value to end users. If teams refuse to communicate, it will only cause delays."

Less friction - faster releases

But what can companies expect from DevOps? Quite simple:

Higher speed and better quality! Donovan Brown is also convinced of this:

"Some of our customers have measured that it takes them 80 percent less time to troubleshoot with DevOps. Others have been able to increase their deployment frequency by a factor of 15."

Where DevOps principles take hold, that is, where business and IT specialists work directly together and automation is far enough along, companies are able to launch new releases within a short time and, if desired, adapt them on the same day.

Especially in collaboration with other IT companies that do not use DevOps, this advantage becomes glaringly obvious. The costs of DevOps, on the other hand, are difficult to measure. This is because many of them cannot be expressed in euros or dollars. It takes time to build the new culture and change the processes that prevail in a team. But the experts are certain that it is far more expensive not to introduce DevOps:

"Ignoring DevOps even though competitors are adopting it will visibly put companies out of business"

Donovan Brown clarifies.

From his perspective, the debate about whether or not to implement DevOps is over.

"Either you implement DevOps or you're out".

Brown is convinced.

Nor does Brown accept the argument that software was successfully developed before DevOps:

"Today, you have to automate as much as possible or you simply won't be able to keep up. And you have to have feedback from your users and adapt your work based on that - already during production."

Developers must constantly monitor the use of their application. This is the only way to ensure that they deliver value.

But how exactly can DevOps be implemented? Unfortunately, there is no universal recipe, but there are DevOps best practices. Because around the globe, numerous teams have already gained experience with the introduction and implementation of DevOps, which DevOps newcomers can build on.

The most important thing is to be open to change and understand the benefits. Then the process itself and the DevOps products are relatively easy to implement.

The hard part, though, is convincing people who have been doing things the same way for 20 years to do something differently in the future.

Restructuring projects and teams is not easy. Everyone involved has to be convinced of the new organization and some difficult decisions have to be made.

And there will always be building sites that can be adapted and optimized in the future. Learn how the switch to DevOps works best and how painful pitfalls can best be avoided at Developer Week in Nuremberg.

Donovan Brown and many other IT experts show you how in DevOps Best Practices.