DevOps Culture Instead of Traditional Thinking
There is no doubt that the modern IT world can no longer live without the concept of DevOps. And expert`s opinion is quite fair that those companies that do not use DevOps today in their practice can be characterized as lagging behind. The all-seeing eye of statistics has not bypassed the DevOps culture and, with the help of specific numerical indicators, demonstrates what benefits the companies working with DevOps practices receive, how much the speed of development increases, downtime is reduced, etc.
Along with this, there are both unrealized opportunities and unresolved problems in the application of the DevOps culture. There are various reasons for this, and these reasons relate to a lack of understanding of DevOps practices, to the low level of qualification of DevOps specialists, and to the lack of practical experience in mastering DevOps tools. And often in such cases, the most correct way out of the situation is to use customized devops services.
Purpose and task of the DevOps methodology
Experts say that some companies can successfully use DevOps practices without even using any special tools, because the basic principles of the DevOps culture are already woven into the work of these companies. And vice versa, in some companies, many different tools inherent in DevOps can be used, but, alas, the practice itself do not work successfully and, accordingly, there will be no benefit from the implemented tools. Because, first of all, the DevOps culture is the right mindset and understanding of problems.
So, the goal of the DevOps methodology is to eliminate the problem of segmentation between the development and infrastructure teams. And the main task that this methodology solves, at the same time, is the quick delivery of the product to the end user. As the IT industry continues to evolve rapidly and its infrastructure becomes more and more complex, the demands on business process speed and service availability are also rising. From this, we can conclude not just about some one-time advantages of the DevOps culture, but, at least, about its uncontested need.
Self implementation or outsourcing?
It was said above that one of the reasons for the low efficiency of DevOps practices in companies is the insufficient qualification of their own DevOps specialists. Therefore, the ability to outsource this process can significantly improve the situation in project management, reduce TTM (time to market), minimize unscheduled improvements and enhance product security.
But there is also such a situation - the company has qualified developers, and an understanding of how the process should function, and software, and a product, and even DevOps specialists. All these participants of the process effectively work within the framework of their functions exactly until the moment when it is necessary to combine all the results of their activities to achieve the final task. And then a situation is possible in which the company suddenly encounters certain problems:
- Errors associated with the lack of automation of the development process are often found. Such mistakes are quite costly for the company both financially and image-wise. The company spends a lot of time on their elimination, and even the development itself can return to the starting point.
- Sometimes during development there is a shift in priorities towards the efficiency of the program to the detriment of a convenient user interface, which gives rise to user dissatisfaction.
- The software deployment time may increase due to the occurrence of so-called trigger points in the process itself. Often such problems increase TTM and lead to losses in business.
- It is not uncommon for a situation in which the elimination of already detected errors generates new errors, which, in turn, may require changes to the software and lead to a long-term process of its modification.
- In the absence of interaction between specialists on software security issues, there is a possibility of problems in this area, which also carries high risks for the business.
Of course, all these problems can be avoided or, at least, solved at the initial stages, reducing the financial and image losses of the company. And here the role of the DevOps methodology and the qualifications of DevOps specialists is simply invaluable. Which way the company will go in this case - whether it will try to apply DevOps practices on its own or outsource this process - it must be decided by the company itself.
