Demystifying DevOp: Research Definitions

As DevOps has rapidly gained prominence, it has also led to inconsistencies on how it is defined and understood. A systematic mapping study published in 2024 took a comprehensive look at how peer-reviewed research has characterized and defined DevOps up to that point. The study provides a solid foundation for better grasping this emerging concept based on an analysis of literature. This article summarizes key findings from the study and expands on the proposed definition and associated practices.

The Need for a Unified DevOps Definition

The study found a clear need to establish a consistent DevOps definition. Among the 49 primary studies analyzed, there was little overlap in the specific definition components covered. Only 4 studies shared the most common aspects highlighted. This fragmentation demonstrates the lack of alignment around defining DevOps in research.

To develop a unified perspective, the study identified 8 key components frequently connected to DevOps:

Development and Operations

Integrating development and operations teams and breaking down silos is fundamental to DevOps. DevOps services help bridge the gap through collaboration tools, communication platforms, and cross-functional workflows.

Communication/Collaboration/Teamwork

Constant communication and collaboration between devs and ops is critical in DevOps. DevOps services facilitate this through chatops, notifications, shared task boards, and documentation.

Bridging the DevOps Gap

The core goal of DevOps is closing the gap between dev and ops. DevOps services like workflow automation and CI/CD pipelines span the DevOps gap.

Development Methodology

DevOps represents a new development methodology. DevOps services provide frameworks and platforms to enable DevOps ways of working.

Software Delivery

Rapid, iterative software delivery is a DevOps hallmark. DevOps services support continuous delivery through release automation, testing services, and deployment tools.

Automated Deployment

Automating deployments increases velocity and reliability. DevOps services provide automated deployment capabilities through configuration management and container orchestration.

Continuous Integration

Continuously integrating code changes enables rapid validation. DevOps services support CI via test automation, build services, and branch monitoring.

Quality Assurance

DevOps brings QA earlier into the lifecycle. DevOps services provide QA through robust testing tools, production monitoring, and stability testing.

In summary, DevOps services act as key enablers for transforming development and operations. They provide the platforms and capabilities to bridge dev and ops and implement modern DevOps practices.

Synthesizing these components led to the following proposed definition for DevOps:

"DevOps is a development methodology aimed at bridging the gap between Development and Operations, emphasizing communication and collaboration, continuous integration, quality assurance and delivery with automated deployment utilizing a set of development practices."

While this provides a solid baseline, DevOps is still an evolving concept. As it continues maturing, the definition will likely need revisiting. But the study established some core tenets that can serve as a starting point for better understanding DevOps.

Expanding on the Core Components of DevOps

To fully grasp DevOps, it is helpful to elaborate on the key components covered in the definition:

Development and Operations

Integrating development and operations is fundamental to DevOps. Eliminating silos and aligning dev and ops enables collaboration and productivity. DevOps recognizes their interdependence.

Development Methodology

DevOps represents a new overall approach to software development. It is not just a set of practices, but a methodology guiding the entire development lifecycle.

Software Delivery

A major DevOps focus is on constant delivery of small software increments. Getting new functionality to users faster is a priority.

Automated Deployment

Deploying and releasing software is automated as much as possible. This increases reliability and speed.

Continuous Integration

Frequently merging code changes into the main branch enables rapid validation and early issue detection. Smaller merges lower risks.

Quality Assurance

In DevOps, QA activities are integrated earlier on and throughout development. This provides ongoing feedback.

Collaboration and Communication

With DevOps, collaboration, communication, and teamwork are emphasized across the entire process between dev and ops.

Range of Practices in DevOps

In addition to the definition, the study also catalogued practices mentioned in connection with DevOps. Spanning the Software Engineering Body of Knowledge (SWEBOK) areas, these included:

Software Engineering Management

Continuous planning and monitoring involves constant planning as needs emerge rather than large upfront plans. Ongoing feedback loops enable real-time communication between teams. Application performance automation monitors and analyzes app metrics automatically.

Software Configuration Management

Continuous integration merges code frequently to validate changes. Continuous delivery produces deployable artifacts regularly. Automated deployment utilizes tools to automate release tasks. Monitoring and staging environments observe behavior and emulate production.

Software Construction and Testing

Continuous testing executes automated tests continuously. Test automation develops automated checks for code changes. Application prototyping creates incremental prototypes for feedback.

Software Process and Quality

Production issue support involves assisting with live production issues. Quality assurance data utilization leverages metrics to improve quality practices.

Software Engineering Tools and Methods

Infrastructure as code manages infrastructure through code. Maturity assessment models evaluate DevOps adoption levels. Elastic resource scaling adjusts resources automatically based on demand.

Requirements and Design

Involving stakeholders engages them throughout the process. Architectural design creates appropriate software architectures.

This expansive set of practices highlights how DevOps connects to nearly all aspects of modern software development.

Comparing DevOps to Other Development Approaches

The study also looked at how DevOps was characterized in relation to other methodologies:

Agile and Iterative Methods

DevOps builds on Agile values like collaboration. But it focuses specifically on development/operations collaboration.

Cloud Computing

Cloud infrastructure enables DevOps capabilities for frequent delivery.

Waterfall

Waterfall is incompatible with constant change supported by DevOps.

ITIL

Both ITIL and DevOps provide flexible sets of practices.

Quality Assurance

DevOps tightly aligns QA with development and operations.

The comparisons demonstrate how DevOps connects yet differs from related process frameworks. The connections to Agile were seen as closest.

Key Takeaways on DevOps from Research Perspectives

In summary, some key findings on DevOps from the mapping study literature analysis:

• There is a strong need for a standardized DevOps definition
• The proposed definition core components focus on collaboration, automation, delivery, QA, and integrating dev/ops
• DevOps encompasses a wide breadth of software engineering practices
• DevOps shares similarities with Agile but is distinct in its dev/ops focus

For organizations adopting DevOps, this research provides a good launching point for orienting around DevOps foundations. As with any new methodology, the specifics will continue evolving over time based on experiences. But the study synthesized a solid baseline perspective on DevOps from early research literature.

Conclusion

This mapping study offers an extensively researched perspective on defining DevOps and outlining its practices based on a systematic analysis of peer-reviewed literature. The proposed unified definition, expansive practice listing, and comparisons to related methodologies provides a solid starting point for further exploration. As DevOps matures, it will be important to re-examine if and how these research-based characterizations evolve. But for now, this helps define a baseline for better understanding the essence of DevOps based on early research.