7 Key Steps to Implement A Winning DevOps Strategy
DevOps is the merger of development and operations. It’s about eliminating silos between IT teams by creating a more collaborative work environment where both developers and IT operations are involved in each stage of the software life cycle, regardless of their skillset. This increased collaboration creates a more efficient workflow, with lower costs for businesses.
If you have a team and you are working with an IT department, then there is a good chance that they are already familiar with the concept of DevOps. Chances are that with your success, there will be some staff that will probably need some guidance when it comes to DevOps. Now, what DevOps is, is essentially a new approach to IT which emphasizes communication and collaboration over individual processes. The approach is also often embraced to increase quality and optimize processes.
DevOps is sometimes referred to as ‘the agile development way’. In DevOps, both the IT department and the development team work together in a “follow the sun” model where developers work on new products while operations work on troubleshooting and maintenance. The DevOps philosophy is based on the fact that new and better solutions can be implemented faster and cheaper through a strong collaboration between the IT department and the development team.
As a boss, implementing DevOps successfully is never going to be an easy task. There are a number of steps you have to take and you need to put a lot of work into it.For any organization that wants to successfully implement DevOps strategy, there are seven key steps they need to take to make it happen.
1. Choose your approach
The first step you need to take is to decide what type of DevOps approach you want to try. There are various types of DevOps but there are two popular approaches. One is functional and the other is operational.
The functional approach focuses on the needs of development and software product teams. The focus here is the software development process. The operational approach focuses on the needs of infrastructure teams and operations. The focus here is on how to streamline processes.
2. Set the right goals
The goals you set should be realistic, it is not always easy to implement a DevOps strategy because it involves a major change of behavior for both your team members as well as your clients. It is a good idea to go over your goals with your team in advance.
Some goals that you can set for your DevOps strategy include:
- Making your team less reactive.
- Building up collaboration between teams.
- Reducing the time spent on support tasks.
- Creating a process that is repeatable and scalable.
- Improving quality through effective collaboration.
3. Encourage collaboration
You need to focus on setting processes that allow your team to collaborate on projects. DevOps does not just mean the development staff is working in continuous contact with operations but it means that the developers themselves are learning more about operations. This is going to lead to teams finding more efficient ways to work together and also share knowledge and experience.
It is also very important that you emphasize the fact that team members need to work in a team together and not as individuals. Everyone should understand the importance of collaboration.
4. Put the right communication tools in place
Once the processes and goals are in place, you need to make sure that they communicate properly. The team needs to have the right tools to communicate and collaborate.
This is a key part of the DevOps strategy. There are many options out there. There are chat apps, such as Slack, project management tools, and workflow automation tools, such as JIRA. Make sure that you evaluate the available options and choose tools that your team members know how to use and can use effectively.
5. Encourage training
Most people who already work in IT departments are familiar with DevOps. However, there are a lot of people who are not familiar with the approach. DevOps training is a good place to start for teams that have members that are not familiar with the approach. A lot of tools allow team members to be trained online, which is very convenient. However, you may still want to take the team to a professional training environment.
6. Develop your strategy
Once DevOps training is complete, it is time to start working on the actual strategy. There are a lot of things to take into consideration. Some things you want to consider include:
- Needs of each team.
- Type of structure.
- Support roles.
- Mapping of roles.
7. Build up your plan
Once you have your strategy and goals in place, it is time to start thinking about the actual implementation. Remember that DevOps is a big project which needs a lot of planning and several rounds of testing before going live. You need to make sure everything works as expected. This includes making sure all the infrastructure components work together seamlessly. Also, ensure that there are no conflicts between different teams or departments.
In conclusion, if you want to be implementing DevOps quickly and efficiently, these steps should help guide you.
DevOps is a valuable methodology for companies looking to improve their speed and efficiency of deployment. The 7 Steps detailed in the article should help lead your team in the right direction.
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