DevOps can be described as an ideology, philosophy or simply as a methodology. It is a principle that seeks to connect development and operation teams. The term can also be defined as a methodology that combines development and operations to create a more streamlined workflow and deliver results faster.
DevOps ensures that deployments are done on demand which helps to facilitate continuous delivery. This goal is achieved by ensuring the necessary code is in a deployable state even when there are changes on a continuous basis. DevOps enables faster application delivery and shorter release cycles.
Here are some of the key aspects of DevOps emphasized by most DevOps consulting services:
Culture Shift
Organizations and enterprises are often advised to embrace a culture shift in their day-to-day operations. In the past, development and operations teams usually had different responsibilities and deliverables. However, under DevOps today, the goal is to ensure that software is deployable at any time by working continuously together on a project. This makes it necessary for a cultural shift among the stakeholders to ensure more collaboration between development and operation teams.
Role of Quality Analysts
Quality Analysts (QA) help to foster better coordination between development and operations teams. QA facilitates closer collaboration to ensure that software and applications are up and running at all times.
People, Tools, and Processes
There are three important accelerators of DevOps processes namely people, tools, and processes. In a DevOps environment, you need people, the right processes, and automation tools which could be licensed or open source tools.
The DevOps Cycle
Processes in a DevOps cycle follow three main stages which are the build phase, the release phase, and the operating phase. In most IT organizations DevOps focuses on four functional areas namely Continuous Integration and Testing, Delivery and Deployment, Operations and Assessment. All these areas are handled on a continuous basis.
DevOps Patterns
There are four areas of DevOps patterns. These include extending development into production, building a production feedback mechanism, embedding development in operations, and combining IT operations with development.
Many organizations and enterprises are now turning to DevOps as the preferred philosophy for use in agile software development. DevOps is also being used together with other popular methodologies such as Six Sigma, Lean Manufacturing, and Kaizen. It helps to eliminate the friction that existed between development and operation teams of silos by enabling collaboration between the teams.
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