How you can gain value by paying attention to DevOps

Including 6 strategies your company can implement

Efficiency may well be the sharpest weapon in software development these days. We at 10KB make no secret of being DevOps fans, but what is it actually? And why does DevOps so often deliver the biggest professionalisation leap for an application?

How DevOps emerged

The ever-shrinking difference between working with hardware and software

Long ago, when you still installed a complete programme with a 1.44 MB floppy, developers and system administrators lived in totally different worlds. The developer designed software, the system administrator managed a few hard drives in the basement. Today you can barely imagine that. Data centres the size of airports, software that has to be available everywhere at once for hundreds of users. Their fields have grown considerably toward each other and both professions have firmly taken to coding: one codes cloudGlossary · In briefcloudThe cloud is a collective term for computing power, storage, databases and software available over a network, usually from an external provider's data centres.Read more servers, disks, and databasesGlossary · In briefdatabaseA database is a structured collection of data that software can store, retrieve and modify. A database management system controls access to that data.Read more, the other builds lightning-fast applications. A DevOps engineer (a contraction of 'Development' and 'IT Operations') understands both and with that knowledge exactly bridges these disciplines. DevOps goes all in on automation, continuous integrationGlossary · In briefcontinuous integrationContinuous integration is a practice in which developers regularly merge small code changes and check them automatically, making integration problems visible early.Read more, continuous deliveryGlossary · In briefcontinuous deliveryContinuous delivery is a practice in which each successful software change is automatically built, tested and prepared so the team can deploy it to production at any time.Read more, and continuous deploymentGlossary · In briefcontinuous deploymentContinuous deployment is a practice in which every software change that passes all automated checks goes to production without a manual approval step.Read more.

What is the added value of a DevOps engineer?

Speed makes or breaks conversion, we know that. Take this research: your conversion rates already halve when a page loads in two seconds instead of one second. Put to a system administrator how that one second can be shaved off, and she will almost certainly look in the infrastructure. Larger servers, better servers, more servers, a different configuration scheme. Put that same question to a developer, and he wants to book that second of gain in the application itself: compress images or deploy slightly faster techniques. A DevOps engineer simply knows where you get the biggest result, because she knows the infrastructure and the software.

That one second of gain can certainly be achieved, but solved in the smartest, most cost-effective way? That is another question. Because a DevOps engineer has insight into the (online) infrastructure and the software that talks to it, she sees flawlessly where the real delay comes from. She can steer very specifically at exactly those places that make the difference. Whether it is about value, improvement, or pure performance.

Is a DevOps engineer also relevant if I already have a fast application?

Even if your application is already flying, you should not let that DevOps engineer go. When building new features he proves his value. Going from a development environment to a live environment often still runs roughly, and that causes delay, plus a lot of frustration.

If you automate this process via deploymentGlossary · In briefdeploymentA deployment is the process of installing and starting a chosen software version in a target environment so it can be tested or used there.Read more automation, you usually lose two people: a SysOps engineer who knows the infrastructure and a developer who understands the application inside out. Together they put a deployment together. Because a DevOps engineer knows enough about the app and what the infrastructure can handle, he builds that deployment automation alone, and that simply saves time and therefore also money. So watch that efficiency, whether it is the front or the back.

How can DevOps contribute to profitability?

• Faster time-to-market

  Take DevOps practices, including that deployment automation, and you squeeze the period between development and going live considerably. You can roll out new features and updates faster, and that sharpens your competitive position and lets profitability grow.

• Improved quality

  DevOps includes automated tests, continuous monitoring, and fast feedback mechanisms. These practicesGlossary · In briefcontinuous developmentContinuous development means improving software continuously in small steps. Automated testing and integration help teams deliver changes regularly and in a controlled way.Read more ensure that bugs and quality issues are spotted and tackled early. Higher software quality raises customer satisfaction, and complaints and returns drop.
  More efficient use of resources Because automation takes over the manual jobs of development teams, those crews can focus on creating value, while operations teams waste less time putting out fires and managing infrastructure. That yields a better-used environment, lower operational burdens (do you really need all that server space?), and on the bottom line wider margins.

6 strategies for gaining value through DevOps

1. Adjusting culture remains essential: you want to grow an environment in which development and operations truly collaborate and talk, instead of each working on their own island. Time for team building. Share knowledge actively and stimulate a mindset of ongoing improvement.
2. Introducing automation: implement automated processes for build, test, deployment, and monitoring. Manual errors melt away, the speed and reliability of deliveries climb. You tackle repetitive work automatically, and that lets teams focus again on what truly creates value for customers, with a healthy profit attached. Continuous Integration and Continuous Delivery (CI/CD): By merging your code over and over, often daily, into a shared repository you get Continuous Integration (CI) moving. Continuous Delivery (CD) connects seamlessly. CD pipelines pick up that tested code and, through a series of automated steps, prepare it in production or staging environments. That is how you build faster cycles and less waiting before new features reach the customer.
3. Monitoring and feedback: Use strong monitoring solutions to keep an eye on application performance. Continuously collecting metrics, logging, and performance data enables your teams to act long before an incident impacts the business.
4. Agile and iterative approach: DevOps combines well with an agile development methodologyGlossary · In briefagile & scrumAgile is an approach to developing software in small steps and adapting based on feedback. Scrum gives it structure through short sprints and regular team discussions.Read more, think Scrum or Kanban. Each iteration you deliver real value and respond lightning-fast to changing customer needs. Less waste, more efficiency, and a noticeably higher customer satisfaction.
5. Continuous improvement: Make feedback and structured retrospectives the norm. Encourage teams to constantly evaluate and experiment, so they can improve themselves and the processes.