DevOps – Is This a Silver Bullet to all your Engineering Woes?

A revolution, a transformation – DevOps has made its way into the industry seamlessly and come in as a breath of fresh air. As a completely different approach to the age-old siloed operations and development, DevOps has brought in agility, efficiency and end-to-end collaboration between teams. But is it such an easy journey to embark upon? Is it a silver bullet to all your engineering woes? Surely not – if implemented without the required due diligence, expertise and care. DevOps is an extremely coherent strategy that needs to be implemented with the right set of tools and strategy.

Thorns in a Bed of Roses

As aforementioned, DevOps implementation is not a smooth-sailing journey – it requires an end-to-end effort for a successful implementation. But before delving into the nuances of the correct implementation of DevOps, let’s first look at the roadblocks which constrain organizations in sailing smoothly for this journey –

1. A Cultural Change – DevOps is not just a practice that can be adopted overnight. It is an extensive effort which requires a complete transformation of organizational culture and mindset. To shift away from the compartmentalized processes, DevOps can begin only when there is a cultural change and willingness to adopt new processes. This can often become a roadblock as organizations are generally set in their ways and become hesitant for a complete revamp of processes. Thus, amalgamating development and operations can often pull away organizations from embracing that change.
2. Removing Barriers – The processes that were traditionally followed in silos (development and operations), DevOps provides a seamless blend of the two. But often, these two teams are at a tussle with each other and thus, creating a pipeline together becomes tough. It is important for teams to not just adopt a different culture altogether but be willing to work in a collaborative environment which calls for a synergy between the two teams.
3. Embracing New Set of Tools – Apart from working as a team, development and operations’ teams need to learn the different tools that each uses to become more savvy and seamless. This again, becomes a roadblock which requires coherent learning and knowledge-transfer. Traditional setups and technologies need to be let go for embracing the change in a wholesome manner. From test automation to APM (Application Performance Management) tools, development and operations’ teams need to get hands-on in all technologies and tools imperative for DevOps implementation.

Understanding DevOps as an Ongoing Journey – Above all, a major roadblock which presents itself is how DevOps’ is interpreted – it could be inherently different for different organizations although the larger goals remain the same. At the very core it is essentially an ongoing effort which not just requires coherent CI/CD (Continuous Integration/ Continuous Delivery) but also continuous feedback, monitoring and learning. As said, it is a journey and not just a destination which one can arrive at instantaneously. It requires cohesive efforts, continuous innovations and staying at par with the latest in technology.

Thus, for removing the thorns in such a bed of roses, organizations need to proactively work towards overcoming any and all roadblocks during this journey.

A Silver Bullet – Only if Shot Right

DevOps has surely brought in a much needed change and transformation. But this change can only ever be fully realized if implemented correctly. With a bottom-up strategy, DevOps needs to be inculcated in an organization’s processes coherently – with the wholehearted efforts of the employees to the management. Organizations that are ready to embark upon this journey, need to realize that surely it wouldn’t be an easy change – be it from a cultural perspective or a technological standpoint. However, the benefits reaped from a successful DevOps implementation speak volumes in itself, for adopting this strategy and journey.

If this implementation goes haywire or isn’t foolproof, there might arise a number of challenges even if implemented. For instance, if the development and operations’ teams don’t see eye to eye, the tools and technologies wouldn’t help in any way since the very core will be strained. Thus, a DevOps implementation needs to begin with an end-to-end plan in place, the consent and proactiveness from the teams and the right tools that need to be deployed. It can only become a silver bullet to all your engineering woes and pain points, if shot at the bull’s-eye! That said, the bull’s eye shot is not an overnight one time effort. It is a journey – Invest in the journey keeping in mind the above challenges; this will make your more prepared to mitigate them to handle them along the way.