Merkle developer discussing new software in a meeting

How to successfully implement DevOps

How agile collaboration between development and IT operations drives your business

Development Operations – DevOps in short – is a customer-oriented development approach. Thanks to agile work, the method enables stable, high-quality, and quickly available software. So, it's no wonder that the method has become very popular amongst companies. To ensure that your implementation is successful, you need to consider a few aspects.

An agile cloud infrastructure, cyber security and artificial intelligence: all this is needed for future-proof DevOps. But how exactly do companies manage the first successful DevOps projects?

Ready, steady, go – velocity wins

When working together with DevOps, developers and IT operations methodically share information about what works and where things might go wrong. This saves IT operations around one fifth of the working time that it would have had to reserve for eliminating software errors and optimisation with traditional project methods. Support issues can also be solved in half the time with DevOps structures. This pays off: More than 50 per centof companies using the DevOps approach enjoy better collaboration and almost 25 per cent enjoy higher code quality.

Satisfaction increases with DevOps among customers and employees, as does velocity, quality and revenue. Companies use automated processes to improve the way they design, build and deliver products. These adjustments follow feedback directly without delay, software gets to market faster and deployability increases.

(Source: https://www.upguard.com/blog/devops-success-stats#toc-0

Merkle developer is working on a computer

How developers build DevOps skills

Sounds great – but where do IT staff get the relevant knowledge? A combination of training in agile methods and technical training creates important requirements. In this way, employees become familiar with the basics of SCRUM, reporting with Agile Boards or planning with Agile User Stories.

In the technical area, we recommend training in the use of the cloud platforms of AWS, Azure & Co. This gives employees an overview of the platforms and their functions and enables them to choose the most suitable option. Once you have entered the DevOps cosmos, you can share experiences and deepen your skills with other developers and engineers in online communities such as the Subreddit r/DevOps.

Development Operations – setting the right path in the company

Don't worry: companies don't need extensive prior knowledge for DevOps. With the right partner and the appropriate tools, agile methods can be introduced almost anywhere. This means tools that facilitate collaboration, tracking, monitoring and code creation. Small teams are also ideal: a coordinated approach ensures quality, saves costs and increases efficiency. 

Two Merkle developer are coding

DevOps needs to evolve

Large companies in particular are therefore promoting DevOps as the prevailing standard for project delivery, and for good reason. In future, however, software development and IT operations will have to incorporate challenges such as cyber security, clouds and artificial intelligence to an even greater extent. An open infrastructure is an elementary requirement for companies to use DevOps even more successfully in the future. The trend shows that the cloud approach enables even more flexibility, scalability, availability and cost optimisation. 

(Source: https://thechief.io/c/editorial/future-devops-15-trends-2021/)

We guide you along the way

Companies can make the transition to agile development methods with an experienced service provider at their side who offers guidance in the adoption of DevOps. Of course, our agile experts are also happy to support you in the selection of suitable tools and training.

A blog article by Nisha Lehmann