Ever wonder what’s really going on with all the talk about DevOps? Is it just the latest buzz word? Is it really a paradigm shift in how we do IT? Or is it, as Dave Gray, director of the division of infrastructure services at the Social Security Administration said, just another term for common sense?
The term “DevOps” was coined in 2009 by combining the terms “development” and “operations.” Like lots of other jargon terms, DevOps can mean different things to different people. Nevertheless, most experts agree that DevOps is not a procedure, but a philosophy that emphasizes collaboration between developers and operations teams. Among the goals of DevOps are faster software releases, the ability to solve critical issues quickly, and better management of unplanned work.
Companies are promised that if they adopt a DevOps approach, they will benefit from continuous software delivery, less complexity, and a faster resolution of problems. All of this will be accomplished by happier, more productive teams operating in a more stable environment: nerd nirvana.
It all sounds a bit too good t be true, but the fact is that most experts agree that DevOps is here to stay. A recent survey by InteropITX found that 80% of development organizations are considering adoption of DevOps methodologies, tools, and practices in the near future.
But what are those methodologies, tools, and practices? Among other things, DevOps focuses on continuous delivery in which developers create, test, and deploy small changes to the software baseline on an ongoing basis instead of fixed release cycles. This gets features into the hands of users faster than waterfall or even agile development strategies. According to one estimate, companies can achieve a 25% speed increase in software deliveries to customers and end-users by adopting DevOps practices.
In addition, the continuous delivery achieved through DevOps can translate into significant cost-savings. Automation strategies that support DevOps deliver substantial improvements in out-of-cycle development costs. Experts have linked defect reduction, decreased change failure, improved patch delivery time, and reduced downtime to DevOps practices. According to one recent study, DevOps automation reduced unplanned work and rework by 21 percent, and increased the development of new features by 44 percent compared to traditional methodologies.
IT mavens also say that even in industries where speed or frequency of deployment is not a driving factor, DevOps can improve productivity. So it looks like DevOps is the wave of the future – until the next big wave comes along.