Mini-series | Enterprise application cloud services operations (3/5)

This mini-series took already a look at continuous improvement needs of lean enterprise application cloud services. After briefly summarizing the underlying concepts lean thinking, continuous improvement, services and service operations (part 1), it introduced the value of cloud services in IT operations (part 2), and now continuous improvement concepts in software development (part 3). Via a graphical analysis (part 4), a hypothetical value stream for fictional enterprise application cloud services operations will be describe, before taking a short look into arising limitations and challenges (part 5).

Previously published in this miniseries

Part 1 | Introduction & underlying concepts – Part 2 | From IT operations to cloud services

Part 3 | Developing software

Agile, a relative of lean thinking

The official foundation for Agile was laid, with the “Manifesto for Agile Software Development” also referred to as Agile Manifesto, which was published by seventeen software developers in 2001 [1]. The principles behind the Agile Manifesto are to create and continuously improve a valuable product (software), by empowering product developers to minimizing waste at the source (software development process). Hence, it could be understood as a relative of lean thinking as it also focusses in a similar way on product (working software), people (individuals and their interactions), customer needs (customer collaboration) and feedback loops for continuous improvement (responding to change).[1] Obviously it is also rooted in the evolution of iterative, incremental and adaptive software development methods [6] like rapid application development (RAD), Scrum and others [4, 7-10].

Lean and Agile both value continuous improvement and the terms are often used in conjunction, nowadays. However, considering that continuous improvement, is found in many other areas of human enterprise as well, it might be safe to assume, that it is simply a reflection of the human need to perpetually improve things, and that it was a lingering concept brought to light by a general school of thought developing during the last century.

Scrum framework

Although the first Scrum Guide was only published in 2010, Scrum was created already in the early 1990’s and is still continuously improved by its creators, as Scrum is based in empiricism and lean thinking. The framework is built on transparency, inspection and adaption and is intended to avoid waste in software development. In Scrum, the product is split into small product increments, which can be finished by focused work within a time box of two to four weeks (Sprint), in a quality thought to be releasable to the customer (Definition of done). After each Sprint the finished increments are reviewed by the stakeholders. The events in Scrum are specifically designed to continuously inspect different specific aspects of the framework for improvements needs, the work goal for the Sprint (Sprint Planning), the upcoming planned work (Daily Scrum), the product increment (Sprint Review), and the quality and effectiveness of team interactions, process & tools (Sprint Retrospective). [4]

DevOps

DevOps is a merge of the development function (Dev: plan, write code, build & test software) and the IT operations function (Ops: release, deploy, operate & monitor software), where the functions are more closely linked together than was usually the case until DevOps emerged. A better integration of both functions is aimed at better understanding and addressing of continuous improvement needs. (Fig. 3) [2, 3]

References

[1.] Beck, K., J. Grenning, R.C. Martin, M. Beedle, J. Highsmith, S. Mellor, A. van Bennekum, A. Hunt, K. Schwaber, A. Cockburn, R. Jeffries, J. Sutherland, W. Cunningham, J. Kern, D. Thomas, M. Fowler, and B. Marick. Manifesto for Agile Software Development.?(2001) [cited 2022 01.01.2022]; link. [2.] Hilkert, D., C.M. Wolf, A. Benlian, and T. Hess, Das ?as-a-Service“-Paradigma: Treiber von Ver?nderungen in der Software-Industrie?, in Software-as-a-Service: Anbieterstrategien, Kundenbedürfnisse und Wertsch?pfungsstrukturen (2010), Gabler. p. 58-61 link. [3.] Alt, R., G. Auth, and C. K?gler, DevOps for Continuous Innovation, in Continuous Innovation with DevOps: IT Management in the Age of Digitalization and Software-defined Business (2021), Springer International Publishing. p. 17-36 link. [4.] Schwaber, K. and J. Sutherland, The 2020 Scrum Guide - The Definitive Guide to Scrum: The Rules of the Game, (2020); link. [5.] The Scrum Framework Poster, Scrum.org; link. [6.] Edmonds, E.A., A process for the development of software for non-technical users as an adaptive system. General Systems, (1974). 19: p. 215-218. [7.] Kerr, J.M. and R. Hunter, Inside RAD: how to build fully functional computer systems in 90 days or less. Systems design and implementation. (1994), McGraw-Hill. [8.] Martin, J., Rapid application development. (1991), Macmillan Pub. Co, Collier Macmillan Canada, Maxwell Macmillan Intern. [9.] Beynon-Davies, P. and M.D. Williams, The diffusion of information systems development methods. The journal of strategic information systems, (2003). 12(1): p. 29-46. [10.] Coleman, G. and R. Verbruggen, A quality software process for rapid application development. Software Quality Journal, (1998). 7(2): p. 107-122; link.

[Contents were developed and edited by myself, in January 2023 for publication in form of five LinkedIn articles. Part 4 is a new addition, and part 5 got a major rewrite, with part 1 – 3 & 5 being adoptions from contents originally developed by myself for a group presentation and an accompanying individual academic paper for my MBA course “Operations and Supply Chain Management” in January 2022 at the Berlin Professional School of the Berlin School for Economics and Law.]

#lean #leanthinking #continuousimprovement #itoperations #cloudservices #cloudserviceoperations #softwaredevelopment #agile #scrum #devops #itsecurity #mba

What to expect next

Part 4 | Analytical process and original model synthesis – Part 5 | Integrative enterprise application cloud services operations value stream