In the previous articles, we already explained “What is DevOps” and which are the origins of this methodology. Now, let’s see the pillars standing at the basis of this change that help the optimization and improvement of the software development phases and the obtaining of a competitive advantage.
Talking about developers and operations, the DevOps revolution corresponds to the Agile revolution concerning the software development, having the same consequences to the development process.
DevOps includes also the implementation of a set of practices, cultures, values and tools for a more solid software, reaching the production phase faster with a lifecycle easier to be managed.
CALMS is the acronym to define the main changing points:
- Culture
- Automation
- Lean
- Measure
- Sharing
Let’s explain them one by one.
Culture
A cultural change is necessary to improve the relationships and remove the silos that are a huge obstacle for the collaboration between the different IT departments. It is always important to involve all the team members in the process decisions.
Automation
If possible, it is very useful to remove all the manual actions inside the processes. Automatisms are in fact fast and efficient, they help defining standards and creating repeatable processes. Thanks to them, the developers and operations can focus on more important tasks.
Which are the processes we can automate?
- Build
- Deployment
- Test
- Delivery
- Integration
- Monitoring
- Configuration
Lean
Use the Lean principles to speed, standardize and make the activities more efficient. The starting points are the waste identification and their elimination to produce more with less resources. Here are the Lean principles:
- Identify where the value is
- Identify the value flow: align in the right sequence the activities that create value
- Let the flow run free: don’t interrupt the activities bringing value
- The flow must be always value oriented
- The aim must always be perfection for your continuous improvement
- Share all these principles with other departments
Measure
It is important to measure everything and then start taking decisions from the results and the collected data. Future reliable assumptions can be defined only by analysing the past experiences.
Everything must be monitored, and it has to provide quick and reliable feedbacks.
Sharing
Another good practice is to share metrics and ideas, talk about failures to learn from them. Even the tools, documents and every information regarding the process must be shared. The code itself has to be written thinking about its reusability.
These above are the basis to face an efficient DevOps strategy, but then you have to add the right tools to put it in practice. That’s why we created the DevOps Tools Free Guide for you. If you want to read it, you just have to download it here:
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