By Ashley Lipman
With the rise in Agile adoption, the need for a streamlined process around the software development life cycle, through development and testing to production is paramount. The capabilities that make up DevOps are provided by people, defined practices and automation tools, according to the DevOps for Dummies. (Source: DevOps for Dummies by Sanjeev Sharma, Bernie Coyne)
Source: DevOps for Dummies
While shifting to a DevOps approach is ideal for agile team to deliver value to customer faster, it can cause problems within a project development team. In fact, it’s been known to cause a few problems during the production implementation.
Here are some of the challenges faced by DevOps teams today.
Clearly Defined Roles and Permissions
Not having clearly defined roles and permissions for a DevOps teams can cause many problems.
When it comes down to it, developers and operations teams have different roles that sometimes overlap. It’s important to address these overlaps so that everyone knows not only what they’re responsible for, but what they aren’t permitted to do. For example, developers shouldn’t be able to access the same logs as sysadmins (source: https://papertrailapp.com/log-management).
Roles will allow DevOps teams to utilize applications that will encourage access rights management that promote effectiveness and compliance.
Choosing the Right Projects
While starting to implement DevOps, it’s important to take a gradual, strategic approach. Rather than trying to transfer all new projects to the new management system, choosing a few projects and analyzing the benefits and challenges is key. From there, refining the implementation process and expanding will help make DevOps successful.
That being said, not all projects are meant for a DevOps approach. Many businesses are faced with challenges when it comes to change management. While one of those challenges is letting go of the old way, another is often identifying when the old approach works better for a specific project.
Attention to Detail and Testing
One of the main benefits of DevOps is the ability to finish projects quicker through a continuous feedback loop. However, quicker isn’t always better, especially during the early days. When aiming to move more efficiently, it’s critical that DevOps teams don’t neglect the testing process. Quality assurance testing to ensure that everything is bug-free is one of the most important steps in development, and the DevOps approach doesn’t always put this task in the limelight.
When releasing an app with bugs, it can cause a bad user experience. This can cause a blame game with the development and operations teams, creating a negative team dynamic that will impact future projects.
Legacy Infrastructure and Tools
Focusing too much on the tools and not enough on the team dynamic is a unique challenge that many organizations face when switching to a DevOps culture. However, not putting enough attention into the infrastructure and tools can also be detrimental.
Using legacy infrastructure while trying to modernize standard operating procedures can be a significant limiting factor, even if the current infrastructure has been useful for years. The businesses that have the most success with DevOps are those that switch to a micro-services approach, implementing automation and innovating their old applications.
Of course, making these changes can be a monumental task, and can often lead to a “chicken or the egg” conundrum when trying to determine which practices versus which infrastructure should be changed first. Managing all of these changes without getting distracted by the wide array of tools meant to assist with DevOps can be time-consuming and costly.
Successful DevOps
Creating a successful DevOps culture isn’t an overnight process. It can take months of creating a culture of positive communication and cohesion between teams, and even longer to take a sustainable approach to scaling.
However, by focusing on the team itself, having the right foundation in place, and testing rigorously, DevOps can change the face of a business for the better.
