IT Insights DevOps What Does it Mean for You?
DevOps has become a hot topic of conversation of late. But what is DevOps and what does it mean for your business? IN THE MOST BASIC SENSE, DevOps is a model for modern Agile software development in which software development (Dev) and Information Technology (IT) operations (Ops) intersect. More specifically, it is a combination of practices, tools and organizational structures designed to enhance agility and deliver higher iteration velocity. In most DevOps models, development, quality assurance and operations teams work closely together — or sometimes even on a single cross-functional team — to build, test, release, monitor and plan in a closed loop across the application life cycle. In other versions of the model, security also becomes embedded across the application life cycle; this is typically referred to as DevSecOps. By closing the gap between formerly “siloed” teams, DevOps enables organizations to develop, enhance and deliver applications and services with more speed — without sacrificing quality. This means businesses can be more responsive to customer needs and changing market conditions. Maintaining this innovative edge can also help businesses retain their existing customers and attract new ones — and even shorten time-to-market for new products and services. All of this can ultimately provide a competitive edge and enhance the bottom line. Conversely, misunderstanding and incorrectly adopting DevOps could lead to significant risk exposure throughout the application life cycle. There are risks posed by organizational inertia, the lack of a common definition for DevOps, and the ability to circumvent governance in the absence of common standards for software architecture, release management and environment management. Implemented poorly, DevOps could result in a lack of accountability as multiple hands touch the code and production environment; this could manifest itself as developers with production access, a classic segregation of duties conflict. It could also lead to taking shortcuts with documentation.