DevOps - A transformational journey

Understanding

DevOps can help break silos in traditional IT(Information Technology) organization to make it collaborative organization focused on delivering speed, quality, and value. 

Goals to Achieve:

1. Faster time to market;

2. Lower failure rate;

3. Shortened lead time between fixes;

4. Faster MTTR.

Speed

Speed matters for anything we do in today's world and is more relevant when it comes to enabling business through technology making it more efficient and competitive in market.

Challenge inherited in traditional IT organization can overcome by adopting agile software development methodologies vs. waterfalls, manual processes to automated process. Key success factors though to see how organization can quickly bring core area of out-sourced function/supports in-house as well as breaking silos in their organization to make it collaborative organization.

Quality

Even if we achieved speed but don’t get desired quality or not able to meet customers/clients requirements it will be meaningless for business to accept the products/services. And therefore, automation through verities of tools (agile PM tool, source control, CI integration, testing, code analysis, security scanning, deployment and monitoring tools etc.) will be equally important to be in place. This will not only provide granular views in real time but also eliminate any security loop holes as a result organizations can achieve better compliance.

Disclaimer:

Integration of multiple tools and operational process will become real challenge if this is not well thought out.

Value

At the end, business did not care much how IT works, what they always look for driving better business growth, profits, and better stakeholders values.And if IT can support these objectives, business will more than willing to embrace technology in their strategic road map. 

Therefore, challenge ahead for technologist in traditional IT organization to create better value propositions for business like adopting DevOps transformation in their organization at the earliest possible and getting level of maturity needed in due course.

Conclusion

DevOps is more of IT organization cultural shifts to adopt nextGen methodologies, automation through multiple tools. Together it will bring deep visibility what CEO and CIO might be looking for in real time.

Real challenge though is to have competent people who are highly engaged in collaborative manner driving cultural shifts needed in traditional IT organization.