Devops is a software development practice that applies agile methodologies to the entire development process, incorporating the practices of both agile and traditional software development.
It was initially developed to make software development more efficient, by breaking down the traditional approach of creating software, fixing it, and then refactoring or re-creating the whole process. Since then, the term has become more popular, and will continue to grow in importance for the foreseeable future.
In 2022, you’ll see more and more businesses adopting the Devops approach, as the benefits of utilizing these techniques are quickly becoming apparent.
Why Are Companies Adopting Devops Techniques?
The main reason behind the growing trend is that Devops allows for more efficient and effective development. By incorporating the processes of both coding and production, Devops allows for the creation of better software with fewer errors and vulnerabilities. This can help companies win in the marketplace, allowing them to provide value to their customers.
When developing with a traditional software team, there are often separate sets of eyes that need to work on the project. However, with the help of modern software development tools, like GitHub, Jira, and Bitbucket, every developer can become a stakeholder in the project, helping to ensure that every detail is accounted for and that the final product meets everyone’s expectations.
How To Become More Devops-friendly
To better understand the benefits of adopting a Devops approach to software development, it is important to learn more about the practice itself as well as the people who practice it. In particular, you will want to familiarize yourself with the commonly used terms that arise from the practice, like “continuous integration” and “feature deployment”.
Since these are often used differently in different companies, it is important to learn more so that you can properly apply the Devops practices in your own. For example, CI stands for continuous integration, where developer machines are kept in sync with each other and with the production servers via continuous, automated builds. This allows for the quick and efficient testing of new code changes before they are merged into the main development branch.
As for feature deployment, this refers to the automated extraction of features from a code repository and their integration into a testbed environment. Using tools like Feature Branching, Git LFS, and Bitbucket’s Pipelines, deploying a feature is as simple as a single command that can be run by any developer. In addition to making development more streamlined, this approach allows for the testing of new features before they are released into the wild.
The Growing Pains Of The Devops Movement
Although the benefits of adopting a Devops approach to software development are becoming more apparent, there is still some skepticism regarding the approach. For years, many in the industry have been wary of adopting a “set it and forget it” attitude, since errors and vulnerabilities often arise from the unexpected interactions between different parts of the software. To put it simply, many companies still view the practices of Devops as “fiddly” and “over-the-top”. This is one of the major factors behind the slow adoption of this practice, as well as the constant refinement of existing tools to make them more user-friendly.
However, as more and more companies adopt the Devops approach, these initial fears will be outweighed by the advantages that the practice provides. In the long term, expect to see more businesses and developers adopting a Devops approach to software development, since the benefits are quickly becoming apparent.
