Ride a Rad DevOps Wave this Summer
Gift your team with a UX-centric toolset or you might be in for a wipe out
By: Marvin Mao, Principal Product Marketing Manager for CA Technologies


Summer is in full swing, so it’s time to wind down and relax a little. For me, that’s putting on some Motown, grabbing a bowl of delicious mint chocolate chip ice cream before kicking back for some light reading… perhaps on the new launch of the next generation Z14 mainframe. Seriously, summers are indeed filled with fun, and nothing beats the summer of 2011, when I joined a group of over twenty interns at Intel to learn the ropes of computer engineering, build everlasting friendships over pizza parties, and most importantly, discover my love for the Nintendo Wii.
Over the years, I have witnessed next-gen consoles redefine the gaming experience — from the 1997 release of the N64 Rumble Pak to the more contemporary virtual reality headset. However, not one compared to the impact made by the Nintendo Wii. For the first time since the advent of arcades, next-gen gaming was not headlined by eye-popping graphics or intense action-packed adventures. Instead, the Wii brought gaming into the mainstream through simple, yet compelling experiences that kept traditional and casual gamers alike coming back for more. My cohort that summer was no different, and looking back, I’m a bit embarrassed to admit the number of hours I wasted pushing for that perfect score of 300 in Wii Sports bowling.
Adoption is all driven by user experience.
Just as the Wii broke the barriers to the mainstream gamer, initiatives to adopt DevOps are delivering transformational change by breaking down organizational silos, both across business functions as well as development platforms. Achieving success is all about facilitating the best user experience. For companies running mainframes, the first step is to evolve mainframe application development into modern application development, ensuring that enterprise teams of developers, testers, release managers and operations managers become comfortable working with legacy data and applications.
Tooling that supports this vision deliver on the three “A”s of critical enablers:
· Agility, to enable teams to leverage their tool of choice, be it Java for coding or Git for SCM, in facilitating the continuous integration practices that underpin Agile Development
· Accessibility, to maximize the latent value of legacy applications by exposing dependencies to COBOL code through techniques such as application analysis and visual debugging
· Automation, to facilitate higher quality, more frequent releases through a continuous testing and continuous deployment pipeline
Leverage the “Consumer Reports” for DevOps
The tools and technologies businesses choose to deploy matter greatly. Jason Bloomberg, President of Intellyx and Forbes contributor, says it best:
“Telling millennials they won’t get to work with other teams or buzzword-compliant technologies if they join the mainframe group won’t be good for morale — or recruiting.”
Put simply, do your homework. Just two steps can greatly enhance your view towards the path to DevOps adoption: 1) Learn effective strategies for extending DevOps to mainframe through an on-demand webcast featuring industry expert Rob Stroud, Principal Analyst at Forrester Research, and 2) understand the key considerations for implementing an end-to-end solution with expert insights from leading technology research and advisory firm Zibis Group.
So, sit back, relax in the sun, soak up summer and get your DevOps on! Please share your thoughts on DevOps for Mainframe in the comments section below, its always great to hear what others are doing.
Please connect with me @maomarvin to continue the conversation.
