You must realise that only learning some tools or hiring tools expert will not get you the results you are expecting from DevOps.
I started my career as a system administrator in 2009, the year inaugural "DevOps Days" was held in Ghent, Belgium. I have had the first hand experience of this transformational journey that was shaping modern infrastructure of today.
"....we’re on the brink of a revolution in the software industry - a paradigm shift in which developers and sysadmins start to work together, to train each other, and ultimately to blur the boundary - welcome to the world of the Devop."
This is what Patric Debois wrote about DevOps, more than a decade ago. But have we really achieved that shift, did we really blur that boundary or has it just changed its form.
To be honest, personally today it feels more like a marketplace with x and y tools featuring themselves as The DevOps tool, as if installing that will magically enable DevOps overnight.
Some even think that hiring n number of x and y tools specialists will make them DevOps enablers.
Well, tell you what DevOps is not a tool box, it never was, and will never be.
This blog will take you back to the basics to explain the core building blocks of DevOps, the essence of which is much more than just some tools and platforms.
Over last couple of years, each time I visit a client for DevOps enablement they ask me various questions like
“What tools are you going to use ?”
“How do I hire for DevOps Role?”
“What are the DevOps tasks/features being developed ?”
“What tools should I know to join the DevOps Team?”
“What are the tools I shall learn to be become DevOps ?”
Do you see a pattern in most of these questions ? The most common is focus on tools instead of values or benefits. Sure tools are necessary but we need to understand that these are just mechanics. Unless and until you enable the right mindset and principles of DevOps, these will create yet another silo in the organisation. Here's how.
Let's look at some of the common phenomena we have been experiencing and how it has impacted the state of DevOps.
“Still Doesn't Work in Production”
How many of you still have to face this. Almost all right. So what we have achieved is this:
Before DevOps “It works on my machine” after “It works on my tool” .
So nothing really changed has it ? Why so? We have so many tools now. We should have at least fixed this issue in 10 years right.
This happens because that boundary between development and delivery is still not blur enough.
Tools won't fix itself unless you have configured it as per your delivery needs.
If your devs don't know what production should look like and depend on "DevOps Engineers" to build the infrastructure who again are not aware what software they are building it for, things are bound to fail , no matter how many tools or platforms you use. Eventually your revenue is going down the drain.
Build an application management lifecycle for consistent and reliable delivery of releases.
Configuration management - code that is modular and platform agnostic. When you become platform agnostic, your software can be deployed anywhere, it does not matter whether you are in AWS or Azure or GCP, you are just deploying your software.
Proper quality analysis and end to end testing from unit to business level.
Always Remember: DevOps is an application lifecycle management with the goal of Continuous Delivery achieved through the discovery, refinement, and optimization of repeatable processes.
“I Can v/s I Will”
The “Skill-Will Matrix” is an important factor to achieve success.
No matter what skillset you have if you do not have the right mindset to implement it, you won’t achieve success.
One of my seniors use to say “There can be 50 reasons to do it and 50000 more to not do” .
It's a Skill Will Win, a never ending learning path.
Enable the right skillset and mindset that can transform traditional IT Operations into a DevOps driven lifestyle that brings Software Development and Operations to work together for consistent and reliable delivery of quality products.
“It's A DevOps Issue”
And here come the most common and classic issue. Pre devOps it was a network issue and post DevOps its a DevOps issue leading to
Occasional blame game.
I have heard devs telling , they don’t care about CI/CD.
Sometimes tools specific Implementation instead of goal driven delivery.
Worst scenario is having a so called DevOps team with individual tools experts.
All these lead to occasional blame game with one team blaming the others tool.
So in reality this is what has happened to the DevOps dream -
“Sure glad hole isn't at our end”
If you have a DevOps team and you think you are DevOps enabled, stop right there.
We are hit by this phenomenon that you can see in the image here. Before, DevOps it was the so call IT Crowd. If I have to quote, Patric Debois, DevOps was supposed to blur the boundary and break silos. If you create a separate team for DevOps itself, then you surely are not doing so.
DevOps is a mindset not role. And that is why I say that it's not a toolbox.
Instead of forming a team, build a community that can together lean, build, test and deliver quality products faster.
That is why DevOps is not a tools box
“It's A Culture - Way you Think, Act & Interact”
It's a Culture, the way you think , act and interact towards solving crucial engineering issues. It is “Application lifecycle management with the goal of continuous delivery achieved through the discovery, refinement and optimisation of repeatable processes that brings the worlds of Software Development and Operations together to work towards achieving one common goal.”
It's about how you change your thinking, adjust to the new mind shift, and transform and transition into a better engineer.
To simplify, I believe it's a continuous process to
“Automate, Integrate, Communicate, Collaborate and Iterate".
I hope this blog will help you enable agile project management for in house DevOps driven Modern infrastructure deliveries.
If you like this article, I am sure you will find 10-Factor Infrastructure even more useful. It compiles all these tried and tested methodologies, design patterns & best practices into a complete framework for building secure, scalable and resilient modern infrastructure.
Don’t let your best-selling product suffer due to an unstable, vulnerable & mutable infrastructure.
Regards
Kamalika Majumder
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