DevOps

DevOps is a term created from the union of two words: development and operations. This 'Buzzword' seem to be understood by everyone in the IT industry. Meanwhile, few people really know what's behind it. The survey conducted by the CA shows that 45% of respondents did not know what it is DevOps, while 17% answered that it is just an empty slogan.

It is a modern and efficient path, configuring development environments and testing which must be flexible and scalable, to allow the creation of more and more and better applications, what is expected of today's business. This methodology combines the worlds functioning rule separately: software development teams (Dev) with operational teams (Ops) in one integrated, continuous process.

DevOps is also helping to break down barriers between Dev and Ops. For this use of people, processes and technology to stimulate collaboration and innovation throughout the software development process. The aim of this cooperation are the business benefits of greater liquidity and speed of implementation of projects.

Why cooperation of these departments is so necessary?

Previously, Devs and Ops had contradictory goals, stood in separate silos. The aim of the developers was to create as soon as possible as many products and implement them on production platforms available to the customer. On the other hand, Ops Team, in whose interest lay not to change, because any change can involve risk and potential downtime of service, that usually this team is responsible for. More changes means more jobs and less stable environment, the risk of failure and error. Changes can always lead to complications, and if they occur mainly team operations bear the consequences, not the developers. As a result, developers and operations sat in silos.

The idea of DevOps and Common Goals

Today the idea of ​​connecting the assemblies and development operations moved to other layers, for example: Testing the code, management, databases and networks. Currently, the main idea is to combine the whole IT in one body, so that there was no longer any silo. The changes are complex and relate to each division of the company, with particular emphasis on the business layer, which must be specifically adapted to the new conditions, enabling it to achieve your goals much faster and cheaper.

An extremely important role in all this play tools for automation.  Each piece of information is stored in one place, and if it is needed somewhere else, the systems will automatically find and use it.

Another important issue is to change the culture in the company, which should go hand in hand with the elimination of silos and work automation. This is one of the most difficult elements during deployment of DevOps - applying less attention to rigid processes and procedures and putting a much greater emphasis on collaboration and exchange of information, often in an informal manner.

Culture?

Few different aspects there... One of them is to share information and knowledge about what we are currently doing. In the culture of DevOps developer does not shut himself/herself in the room, programming!

Importantly, these are not formal, structured speech or presentation - it is rather about loose talk "over coffee", so that everyone is more aware of what is happening in other departments. This allows you to stimulate creativity, to come up with new ideas or even detect potential errors. It is worth mentioning the important matter, which is to promote the culture of making mistakes. For many people, is an absolute novelty, because we usually make mistakes we associate with disapproval and we strive to make the most stable production in their programs. The DevOps culture allows to experiment, testing the ideas and the publication of even those not fully polished. The idea is to hit to the recipient as soon as possible, so that anyone could see them. Even if something proves to be unstable, not quite working as expected, it will not pose a problem - quickly fix an error, and and so the final product will be available earlier than with standard procedures.

Benefits...

From the point of view of the owner/manager/director of the company, DevOps primarily means faster delivery of products from the IT department, while lowering costs and maintaining high quality - these are the standard business rates.

The key here is to shorten "Time to Market", or the time needed to deliver the customer a fully finished and functional product. After the implementation of the methodology and DevOps automation techniques we are able to release a new version of the application every week, every two days, or even daily. One of the reasons why DevOps is gaining popularity around the world, is the fact that this concept does not have a strict definition, clearly prescription. The lack of such precision and rigid rules of conduct is intentional - to encourage people to think creatively and constantly asking yourself questions.