DevOps: not a role, but a culture
You might be wondering what’s the buzz about DevOps. Some people may say that it’s the most lucrative tech role of today. Others also say it’s just a fancy evolution of the current operations role — like how data analysts were generally called statisticians not so long ago. In the ever-evolving landscape of software development and IT operations, DevOps emerges not merely as a role to be filled but as a transformative culture that reshapes how teams think, collaborate, and deliver IT solutions.
Genesis of DevOps
A lot of companies today have the DevOps Engineer role. However, if we take a look back at how the word “DevOps” was coined, we notice that this was not referring to a role at all. Back then, and arguably, still today, development teams and operations teams were basically oil and water. This separation often led to inefficiencies, misunderstandings, and slower productivity.
Most often than not, development teams have the tendency to “tunnel vision” on product development, not consulting with the operations team on deployability, scalability and long-term maintenance issues.
“That’s an ops problem.”
“It works fine on my machine.”
“We’ll fix it in the next sprint.”
If you laughed, then you might find this relatable. These are some of the popular lines of development teams when it comes to passing the product to the operations teams. On the other hand, operations teams have their own lines too.
“This release has no rollback plan.”
“Did you even test this before sending it over?”
“This will require downtime to deploy.”
These popular lines above, funny as they seem, captures the essence of what DevOps seeks to overcome. DevOps was born to bridge this gap, creating a culture where both teams work together through the entire software development cycle. It is a concept that transcends the traditional way of deploying software, advocating for the seamless integration between the development (Dev) and operations (Ops) teams, fostering a symbiotic relationship that magnifies efficiency, reliability, and innovation.
The only DevOps principle
You might disagree with me that DevOps has a lot of principles such as automation, continuous integration and continuous deployment (CI/CD), monitoring, etc. and yes, I also agree that these principles also encompasses what it means to practice an effective DevOps culture. However, these principles stems from a single, broad, but yet important principle: Collaboration and Communication.
At its heart, DevOps emphasizes the importance of open, continuous communication between teams. This foundational principle acts as the bedrock for all other practices and methodologies within DevOps. Without a culture that prioritizes clear, transparent, and ongoing dialogue across all phases of development, operations, and beyond, the technical aspects of DevOps — such as automation, CI/CD, and monitoring — cannot be effectively implemented or sustained.
Impact of DevOps culture
Organizations that embrace the DevOps culture witness significant benefits:
- Enhanced Efficiency and Speed: By automating repetitive tasks and improving collaboration, teams can focus on innovation and delivering value more quickly to their customers.
- Improved Reliability and Quality: Continuous testing and deployment, along with proactive monitoring, ensure that products are more stable and issues are resolved swiftly.
- Greater Agility: DevOps enables organizations to respond faster to market changes and customer needs, maintaining a competitive edge.
- Employee Satisfaction: A culture that values collaboration, learning, and innovation not only leads to better products but also happier, more fulfilled employees.
DevOps cultural shift
Ironic as it may seem, since I myself is a DevOps Engineer, hiring one does not automatically imply that your organization already practice the DevOps culture. Everyone should know and practice DevOps. In reality, startups are more susceptible to practice the DevOps culture since they are lean by nature and most often than not, forced to be cross-functional. Organizations that are big enough to have siloed both development and operations have been proven difficult to transition to a DevOps culture.
So, does this mean that you have to wait for upper management to implement DevOps?
Of course not. DevOps is not at all magic and transformation does not happen overnight. Instead, it requires a grassroots effort, where individuals and teams start embodying the principles and practices of DevOps within their own zones of influence, creating a ripple effect throughout the organization.
From “that’s an ops problem” to “How would this feature work in production?”. From “Did you even test this before sending it over?” to “I should be able to supply our developers automated testing pipelines to make both our lives easier”. This is what DevOps culture is all about. Everyone should be able to display a sense of ownership and promote an environment of collaboration.
DevOps in a nutshell
Maybe why the industry introduced the DevOps Engineer role is because organizations felt the need to implement all these technical DevOps implementations such as automation and CI/CD. However, DevOps is more than its technical aspect. Adopting DevOps requires more than just new tools and processes; It demands a cultural shift within the organization. It requires commitment and the willingness to embrace change. DevOps, therefore, is not just a role one assumes. It’s a culture that changes the status quo of how teams work and thrive together in the dynamic world of software development.
