Agile and DevOps: The Cooperation for Good
No matter what the world says, Agile and DevOps are related by blood. Agile methodology – the big brother – forms the basis for multiple aspects of DevOps. However, DevOps has a wider scope, definitely.
Where Agile focuses on quick releases, work in sprints, smooth collaboration, and thorough documentation, DevOps emphasizes making the above (and more) happen through workflow automation, instant feedback, and shared ownership. So more than in a competitive way, they are complementary.
Interested in figuring out how do Agile and DevOps interrelated? We have got you covered.
Oh, wait. Let us first explain both the methodologies to you quickly.
Agile Software Development
Agile is the descendant of the Waterfall model, but with a much-improved approach for testing and a sharp focus on quality. In Agile development, every phase of programming requires thorough testing and user validation.
It is an iterative approach to Software development and software lifecycle management. With the customer involved in the process all the time, the Agile team works on continually delivering small workable parts of the project. It implies the customer need not wait for the software’s final launch to test its features and give feedback.
Feedback and change implementation can go side by side in Agile development. That’s where its agility – as promised in the principles behind the Agile Manifesto – comes from.
Benefits of Agile
- Planning sessions and stand-ups result in fewer iterations;
- Test-driven and customer-centric approach result in better product quality;
- Overall project execution methodology ensures early delivery and faster production;
- Uninterrupted evolution of the software post-launch.
DevOps
The approach that promotes optimizing development and operations for your developers and IT team is DevOps (Dev + Ops). The purpose of utilizing DevOps in an IT company is to build more maintainable, scalable, manageable, and robust solutions faster.
Contrary to most people’s belief, DevOps is much more than Continuous Integration and Delivery (CI/CD). It melts the ice between the production and processes to accelerate quality development and simplify the work of everyone (both the teams) involved.
Steps to Adopting DevOps Culture
- Proper project planning;
- Regular focus on improving the development and documentation processes;
- Identifying repetitive operations and automating them;
- Finding reliable tools to speed up the development and using them optimally;
- Working on team/inter-department communication and making it smooth;
- Amplifying the feedback loop and promoting experiential learning to ensure innovation;
- Breaking silos, and so on.
Benefits of DevOps
- Speedy production
- Added scope for innovation
- Better product quality
- Process automation is beneficial for the development team in a long term too
- Optimal utilization of skill set of all individuals in the team
- Fair workload on all members
How do Agile and DevOps interrelate?
DevOps is the implementation of Agile methodology beyond the development processes as it also covers IT operations. DevOps optimizes your whole software development process to make it truly Agile. It encourages adding automation to the process wherever possible – in development, design, product monitoring, product release, testing, implementation, communication, and so on.
Agile is all about code, and DevOps brings code into production to optimize the whole SDLC. Both approaches, together, work on making your products successful, your teams at peace, your personnel productive, and your business prosperous.
The SDLC Processes Involving Agile and DevOps
- Planning, Programming, Release
- Testing, Quality Assurance, Cybersecurity
- Monitoring, Maintenance, and Feedback
- IT Management and Team Training
- CI/CD – Continuous Integration Continuous Delivery
Benefits of Agile and DevOps Working Together
Coming up with Products that could Succeed
The agile methodology involves the actual product owner in the process – the person/team that really understands end-users. With DevOps tools ensuring to help deploy the suggested changes faster, the chances of a product’s success are much higher.
Early Delivery; Faster Launches
Agile focuses on people and how they interact with processes and resources to ensure early delivery. With it, the time in testing at the later phases reduces. DevOps optimizes the processes and adds automation to free more resources so that the above becomes even more hassle-free for all.
Quality Testing, Maintenance, and Troubleshooting
Quality of testing is higher in penetration tools, and manual testing is utilized in a balanced manner. Agile and DevOps practices can ensure the same. So, alongside the testing, maintenance, and troubleshooting processes will also be improved.
Incremental experiments
A faster development process makes time for developers and operations specialists to experience and innovate, resulting in the delivery of a more impactful solution.
DevOps tools promote Agile Development
DevOps tools can pace up your development, design, test, troubleshooting, documentation, and other development processes. Isn’t it what the Agile approach wants to achieve through sprinting and early delivery?
So, what should you do now?
Well, it depends upon who you are.
- A current or future product owner must figure out how to utilize Agile and DevOps to make the most out of both. It’ll be a good idea to hire a team that is well-acquainted with both approaches.
- An IT organization can think about how and how fast you can adopt both methodologies and start leveraging their combined benefits for themselves and their clients.
- For project managers, it is better to make their team learn about these and start their deployment to complete your projects smoothly and fast.
- Individuals in development and operations should find methods and tools to adopt DevOps and Agile for higher productivity.
Bonus Information: Career Tips
Individuals in IT companies and organizations willing to upskill their teams/people might already be thinking of the top certifications available related to DevOps and Agile. After all, these certifications won’t only add skills for you but get you a promotion, higher wages, better prospects, and whatnot.
Our suggestions are:
Related to Agile
As told previously in the article, Agile is for people, and therefore, project managers must pick a reliable Agile Certification to improve their skills in handling project execution, delivery, and management through it. Go for a certification like PMI – ACP or training like AgilePM®.
Related to DevOps
As DevOps is about multiple processes in development and operations, one must pick the certification as suitable for his/her job role or expertise. For example, experts in Cloud Computing should go for AWS Certifications, Jenkins Certification will be good for individuals in CI/CD, CKA could be a preferred choice for someone in Infrastructure Orchestration, and so on
Conclusion
By now, you must have understood how do Agile and DevOps interrelate. It’s time to take your next action, depending upon what was your purpose of learning about the above. So, make a plan and act faster on your plan. The combo of Agile and DevOps will ensure magnificent results for sure.
