Agile Know-How Magazine • Fall 2017
Agile Know-How article
The culture
of software DevOps
A
successful organizational transformation requires a
culture that breaks down traditional silos separating the organi-
zation’s various teams. In the case of DevOps, we are looking
to bring closer together, or even to merge, the teams responsible
for development and for operations. The basic idea is fairly
simple; it’s about encouraging communication and collabora-
tion among all the people involved in delivering applications
and systems, as well as focusing on the continuous improvement
of processes and products. The goal is to be able to develop
and deliver software more quickly, without sacrificing quality
or security.
We want to strengthen the connection between two impor-
tant areas of activity: development and operations. We want
employees creating software to work in direct partnership with
those taking care of delivery, integration, and support. For
example, developers and user interface experts work side by
side with network specialists and database architects.
In theory, this will allow the IT department to significantly
accelerate its deployment cycles. By merging or further connec-
ting the two groups, new code can be monitored, analyzed,
and tested during development, allowing new versions to be
released increasingly faster.
30
agileknowhow.com
In practice, IT teams often have different interpretations. For
example, for some teams, it is a way of tackling development
and deployment as a whole, while for others, it is more a way
of structuring teams and establishing practices and workflows.
Team structure
In a DevOps context, teams can have various configurations.
One common form of organization is to structure teams
around products rather than roles. Instead of having different
By merging or further
connecting the two groups,
new code can be monitored,
analyzed, and tested during
development, allowing
new versions to be released
increasingly faster