There is a lot of buzz around DevOps, but what is it? It is exactly what it sounds like: development and operations. To share some context on why these two areas put together is so significant, here is some history:
The illustration above depicts the Waterfall methodology, a traditional software development model that depended on developers and their code to work functionally with those who deploy the code — all in staggered form without any organized communication or awareness of how each side is operating. Additionally, each phase must be completed before moving onto the next phase. In an ideal world, each step of this process would flow seamlessly. However, given that this model does not allow for teamwork, it proved to be quite dysfunctional. This was evident with the competing objectives, separate key performance indicators, and disjoined efforts among the developers and the operations teams. This in turn led to low quality releases and deployments, which equated to unhappy users.
Then along came DevOps! It was a movement that began in 2007–2008 when those in the software development and IT operations industry shared concerns over the flaws and unproductive efforts that the existing system was yielding. These discussions started in online forums and local meet-ups, and the result is what we know today:
DevOps is the sum of cultural philosophies, practices, and tools that enable efficient and well-coordinated efforts to deliver high software quality through continuous integration and continuous delivery.
This relies on automating the merging, testing, and deployment of code, and thankfully, this removes all the backups that were experienced previously. The benefit of this software development model is a collaborative dynamic where each member of the team carries out his/her role diligently (i.e. planning, coding, building, testing, releasing, deploying, operating, and monitoring), all while still in sync with the rest of the team.
It’s easy to remember if you think of DevOps as a band of talented musicians! Everyone is dedicated to playing their respective instrument the best they can and they all follow the same beat and rhythm. The end result is a harmonious blend of sounds that come together to create beautiful music!
Now that we know what DevOps is, who uses it?
Many companies have quickly adopted and made DevOps their own, and we as consumers and users, benefit from DevOps as well. One good example is none other than Target. We all know Target to be the wonderful place where you go in for one thing and usually come out with a dozen other things. That is partly thanks to the revamping that has been done by Target’s adoption of DevOps. There came a point where the company debated whether it was worth keeping high-quality perishables in stock for long-term. To address this, eventually they built a small, cross-functional team that included business, tech, operations, and product experts that focused on specific deliverables. Buyers, planners, and vendor contacts also worked alongside this team together in sprints with fast feedback. This new data-driven team helped to assess how much space each perishable category should get before getting diminishing returns on profit. The outcomes were positive where the perishables could remain in stock with increased profits and minimal sacrifice in sales.
Target now has an accelerated learning environment called “the Dojo”, where teams work alongside agile coaches for six weeks to engage with agile methodology and DevOps. The aim of this environment is to provide guidance while helping to remove the fear of change, which is crucial for companies to make the transition to DevOps.
As more companies and organizations adopt this collaborative approach, we can expect to see many more positive impacts across all industries, both inside and outside of tech!
