DevOps along with Agile Methodology has finally gone mainstream after more than a decade of experimentation led by tech giants to perfecting it. Enterprises leverage this software development methodology that highlights rapid development and regular delivery of software and system updates with continuous client involvement, which helps them improve the overall user experience.

DevOps is all about making the relationship between the software development and IT operations team stronger, efficient and reliable. It fosters collaboration and infuses the productivity of Continuous Integration and Continuous Delivery with the support of code accountability using agile software development leading to highly responsive team in an enhanced system environment. This approach speeds up the turn-around time when solving bugs and rectifying incidents.

Under the DevOps product development approach, enterprises try to achieve full involvement of the software development along with the IT operations team so the teams together can build, test, release and maintain new digital platforms or applications more frequently and efficiently.

At the enterprise level, the two teams must jointly create a structure and culture that facilitates a seamless application of DevOps concepts at scale to fast-track the project delivery without compromising quality.

They need to adapt new tools, new processes and best practices to make a significant cultural shift for making the most out of DevOps.

The first step to utilizing DevOps begins by identifying the current business procedures and delivery pipelines while categorizing clear objectives the enterprises wants to achieve.

In this article, we share the best DevOps practices that can fast-track the delivery pipeline with improved IT service delivery and optimized costs.

Be Ready for a Cultural Shift

DevOps combines people, process and tools to transform an enterprise into a single entity. Changing the company culture can be one of the most difficult challenge enterprises may face as cultural shift is the backbone of DevOps.

To navigate through a successful Cultural Shift, enterprises need to begin the process starting with the top management trickling down the changes gradually towards the entry-level staff. They need to separate the names from functions and ensure that developers and operations are informed of the value they each will bring to the enterprise before bringing them together as cross-functional teams.

Enterprises also need to change their incentives to facilitate the cultural shift that the smooth collaboration of two different set of teams brings.

Some companies ask their developers to attend client calls so that they can understand operations challenges. While others accelerate the cultural shift by recognizing star developers and operations staff to motivate other team members.

Simply introducing new policies and processes might be successful at an initial level but may fail in the long-term unless the overall enterprise-level culture is also reflects the change.

Architect a continuous integration and continuous delivery platform

Once the entire enterprise is ready for the cultural shift, the focus must be on the DevOps team itself. The enterprise needs to provide the DevOps team with accurate, up-to-date information about the production environment so they can plan well in advance for the deployment.

This ensures that developers stay focused on a synchronized build and smoothly run with the approach wherein the developer who builds a software “owns” it throughout the production. He assumes ownership and accountability ensuring all the major bugs are addressed and the final product delivered is top-notch.

Ideally, the DevOps team will be the center of the service lifecycle, right from sourcing requirements to planning, to development, to deployment and maintenance. This team will also troubleshoot and debug problems using their deep knowledge of the platform and the infrastructure.

Thus, it will create a CI/CD platform by continuous integration, development, testing and continuous deployment into a single entity.

How CI/CD in DevOps works:

Build a continuous testing environment

“Prevention is always better than cure.” The same dictum relates to software development. The quicker the developer receives the feedback on changes, the better-quality output one gets.

With DevOps Services, testing forms an integral part of development and QA becomes a part of the cross-functional DevOps team.

Testing (Manual or Automated) should be performed repeatedly throughout the delivery pipeline. This should be targeted to achieve the goal to keep the time between check-in and release as short as possible.

To be on the safer side, enterprises should create a delivery skeleton by performing a single unit test and a single acceptance test that is integrated with their automated deployment script. They can later increase the number of tests across the actual delivery pipeline. Read this article to know more in detail about the role of DevOps in software testing.

Regularly monitor performance

Performance monitoring is the key element for any software development process. Before enterprises choose their method for performance monitoring, they need to identify the key metrics they want to monitor.

The following important categories help them identify the same:

Development cycles

Deployments

Vulnerabilities

Server health

Application performance

User activity monitoring

Regulatory compliance

Incident management

Modernizing the enterprise from traditional software development to DevOps Solutions is challenging as it includes a dramatic perspective shift across the entire enterprise.

At Cygnet Infotech, we understand the “Speed” it needs when it comes to product engineering. That is why we assign the “Right People” for the “Right Processes” who perform the task with “Integrity” and follow the best DevOps practices to fast-track the delivery pipeline.

Get in touch with experts at Cygnet today on +1-609-245-0971 or inquiry@cygnetinfotech.com if you’re interested in Rapid Productization using a 100% Agile approach.