Agile + DevOps

Imagine, for a moment, a manufacturing facility, let's say, an Auto OEM. What if they are able to envision the right product (by iterating with potential future consumers), quickly develop a great product, manufacture the new product with excellent quality but fail on putting the product on the market faster than the competitors?

While product delivery or, better saying in software development terms -- deployment --, is also a relevant step for any industry, including the one I used in the example above, everyone who has been dealing with new software releasing knows challenging it can be, especially when dealing with big and highly integrated systems. So, on the journey of becoming a truly Agile company, the team doesn't have the choice of avoiding a major overhaul of all the operational steps to bring a new solution (or even a piece of it) to life. And here is exactly where DevOps may become a powerful ally to Agile!

Traditionally, Agile teams had been focusing more on building the product and leaving on the table, to "somebody else", the processes of deployment, work automation and infrastructure maintenance.

By combining Agile practices with the integrated teamwork provided by DevOps, the team can improve incrementally the whole product cycle, from design to maintenance. This will help better orchestrate works with the single focus everyone on the team should have: Deliver the product to the customer (with quality!).

Here are some benefits on Agile and DevOps integration:

• Better overall alignment on priorities -- More value delivered!
• Higher level of collaboration
• Improved visibility
• Reduced level of risks in each release

The Agile transformation is a long journey. Integrating DevOps should not be a massive effort to be taken at once - As we are used to do, start small! Try it on a team, iterate, incorporate what works (or pivot!). The team will learn and adapt and I am confident a better way of working together will emerge during the process.

What is DevOps? In a nutshell, it's an integrated way of operating (without silos!), supported by a shift in mindset, which allows a fluid workflow to develop, test and deliver products.

If you feel you need more information about this topic, I do recommend the following courses available on Coursera:

1. Continuous Delivery & DevOps  from the University of California Davis
2. DevOps Culture and Mindset from the University of Virginia

Also, feel free to comment below or even contact me thru e-mail to exchange ideas about the topic.

Good luck on your Agile and DevOps journey!

Tulio

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Footnotes

• Contributors to this article: Cindy Rose, from Callahan & Rose Consulting, was responsible final text review and some valuable inputs. Thank you, Cindy!
• Image Source: Vectorjuice