Introduction
There has been a global paradigm shift with the onset of COVID19, where enterprises are compelled to go digital overnight. To stand true to the virtues of delivering supreme quality consistently in software products in the minimum lead time possible is something that has been increasingly felt over the years.
You can think of DevOps as a set of practices aiming to bring about a reduction in the lead time i.e. when a developer commits the code to the point where the code is deployed for production. Organizations of all sizes and across industries have implemented DevOps services in some form.
The benefits received are diverse, starting from Continuous Delivery, which engages the team in deploying production-ready code reliably and frequently. DevOps facilitate a better evaluation of risks associated with digital products.
How should organizations react in the event of a pandemic?
Organizations are framing their digital recovery strategy around some core principles like speed and flexibility, a comprehensive understanding of the risk followed by bold actions that complement chalking out a holistic approach. DevOps have the potential to help organizations to safely see through the pandemic crisis and ensure future sustainability.
Optimization with Continuous Delivery
Addressing the requirements of flexibility and speed are elementary to the concept of DevOps metrics. A typical specimen of DevOps services that leverages flexibility and speed is continuous delivery. Continuous delivery facilitates:
- The deployment of working software.
- Utilizes a predictable deployment pipeline.
- Makes sure that the application’s source code is in a deployable state.
There is a belief that deployments can be slow and entails a considerable amount of risk. Situations like code-freezes can limit the functioning of an entire organization following the immediate aftermath of deployment. As far as continuous deployments are concerned, the change is likely smaller in scope and does not need the entire engineering team to implement code freezes.
Continuous Deployment in stills more confidence as the team is engaged in the process and does it more frequently. The transition from deployment to production does not have to be erratic. Through continuous delivery can deliver the final product in the minimum time possible and provide better end-user value.
Better risk management
On the outset, it may seem that taking risks in times of economic uncertainty may not be the best idea. It may be too risky to venture into the introduction of new software services or capability. Through DevOps, you can manage your risks better when it comes to making bold decisions with a lesser amount of risks by separating release from deployment.
Deployment is all about the implementation of the code written by the developer such that soon you can use the code. On the other hand, the release is concerned with the readiness of the code in the production environment. The segregation of release from deployment enables engineering teams to continuously deliver software. Yet the product team can gracefully manage the release of features to end-users.
Achieving the segregation
Feature toggling software or a feature flag proves handful when it comes to achieving segregation of release and deployment. For example, the engineering and production team can identify a feature that can be developed with on and off toggle switch in the feature flag software by a production team member.
A code is then written, which implements the flag by making an API call to the feature flag service. With the help of these feature flags, the production team can customize based on inputs ensuring predetermined accessibility to the features. Through a comprehensive mechanism of the risk management team can iterate faster and simultaneously release valuable services and products to customers.
A holistic way to adopt agile
It emphasizes cross-functional digital initiatives through the integration of different processes and teams in the organization. There is an emphasis on bringing about a cultural change right from an IT operations team to an agile DevOps team. It is indeed an overlooked aspect despite holding considerable importance in DevOps. The concept of agile can be summarized under the following points:
- Rendering value to customers in a fast-paced manner.
- Giving importance to people over process.
The Customer-first mindset emphasizes working alongside the deployment and production team, facilitating organizational cohesion. Accomplishing customer-centric business goals facilitate strong alignment by prioritizing people over process. It brings about the empowerment of DevOps team members for making decisions instead of following strict organizational processes.
The way forward with DevOps
It becomes possible to maintain quality through the implementation of a robust DevOps strategy. It can be accomplished in quick succession instead of taking ages. In the current crisis of the COVID19 pandemic, DevOps will not only help end users but cast a considerable impact on organizations internally. Cross-functional teams can make smart decisions and be more flexible with possible risks in mind.
Times of the crisis demand to undertake bold steps and incremental changes, and through the implementation of a proven DevOps strategy, you can help organizations thrive during and after the course of this pandemic. DevOps is not an option but a necessity to which your organization needs to adapt and make incremental changes to suffice its requirements.
