DevOps is a term that has been gaining popularity in the software industry for some time now. But despite its popularity, there is still a lot of confusion about how different Devops is from Agile. The debate between DevOps and Agile is still very much alive in the IT industry.
There are many similarities between Agile and DevOps methodologies, but there are also some differences worth noting. In this post we’ll outline what makes Agile and DevOps unique, and how they work independently of each other. And we will also identify gaps that DevOps resolved from agile models.
Agile is an iterative project management and software development methodology that indicates teamwork, customer input, and frequent release cycles. In an agile methodology, planning and design are performed before, but development occurs in small batches with close collaboration amongst stakeholders. If the software does not match the expectations of the consumer may be corrected in real-time.
The agile development process has four core values:
- People and interactions over technical processes and tools.
- Working software over comprehensive documentation.
- Customer collaboration over contract negotiation.
- Adapting to change.
DevOps is a software development approach that integrates the development and operations teams. It focuses on delivering quality software by encouraging collaboration between the development and operations teams, as well as between both functions. DevOps also employs continuous integration, continuous deployment, and monitoring, along with other modern practices such as agile development methods.
The DevOps lifecycle includes the following processes:
- Continuous development
- Continuous testing
- Continuous deployment
- Continuous monitoring
- Continuous feedback
Agile Vs. DevOps
- Agile places a focus on communication between developers and product management
- Agile focuses on the software development process from idea to code completion
- Agile prioritizes iterative development and small batches
- Agile provides structure to the developer’s scheduled work
- The agile manifesto emphasizes the importance of personal and relationships, working software, customer participation, and adaptability
- DevOps incorporated the operations team
- DevOps expand the scope to include delivery and maintenance
- DevOps prioritizes the automation of testing and delivery
- DevOps embraces the unexpected tasks that are common with operations teams
When Agile and DevOps Work Together
DevOps is an attempt to apply the innovations of the agile methodology to operational procedures.
DevOps is also a missing element of agile since many agile concepts are only filled when DevOps methods are implemented.
Agile is more about accepting incoming and outgoing changes than it is about formalities such as stand-ups and sprint planning.
Agile and DevOps are culture revolutions that may motivate your business to achieve its objectives more effectively.
Agile and DevOps function well together than as competitors.
Things We Consider When Integrating DevOps in Agile
Using the DevOps framework and agile methodology together requires team members to have a comprehensive understanding of all elements of software development. You get both the business values of DevOps and the practicability of agile
Your teams must be proficient in release, service and change management, environment provisioning, automation, and application deployment.
Successfully implementing DevOps using an agile methodology requires defining the product life cycle. This promotes uniformity, decreases costs by decreasing waste, and accelerates the time required to bring a product to market
Teams increasingly assume a greater proportion of operational responsibilities throughout their lifetime. Therefore, it is ideal to begin using certain DevOps concepts from the beginning of your development cycle.
Adoption of DevOps in Agile Sprints
Agile workflow assumes that the software development process is split into sprints, it is advisable to include DevOps management when managing sprints.
Follow these guidelines
- Invite operations/support/infrastructure staff to planning meetings
- Discuss the functionality and operability of the product
- Include them in the sprint to come
- Participate in sprint backlog planning and daily meetings as well as sprint review and scrum and plan alignment.
Implementing QA at Each Phase
Integrating DevOps and agile involves incorporating QA throughout the whole development lifecycle as a second crucial factor
-When integrating the two, testing becomes a crucial role. In addition to agile functional testing, the DevOps methodology demands performance and load testing of software. Consequently, continuous testing is as crucial as continuous development.
Automation
Workflow automation is another aspect of agile and DevOps integration. Try to automate all code-scanning operations and eliminate any possible vulnerabilities.
Construct artefacts inside a repository or automate the release process. Completely automate these components such that your end-to-end goalposts are the only possible locations where someone must manually check for problems.
Documentation
Keeping a track of the different modes of communication in meetings like that of the meeting minutes is not done by teams that follow the agile approach. More often, they choose to use paperwork as against any high-tech approach. On the other hand, DevOps helps in understanding the software releases through detailed specs and design documentation.
The combination of DevOps and agile is advantageous in the following areas:
-streamlines the release process while enhancing product offers
-facilitates enhanced teamwork
-each release will have more value and fewer risks
-fewer errors and quicker fixes
-enhanced visibility
-greater customer happiness as a result of superior product quality
Measurement and Analysis
The effectiveness of DevOps can be measured with the involvement of metrics that can indeed help in tracking its progress from the time you incorporate it into agile project management. This enables multiple releases to be made more efficiently. As outlined in Scrum Alliance’s recommendations, some of these could be:
- Percentage of release date adherences.
- Percentage increase in release numbers.
- Time is taken for production release.
- Defects attributable to platform/support requirements.
- Percentage of NFRs met.
Measuring business value gets easier if you check out the other metrics while implementing DevOps.
Conclusion
Agile and DevOps have the same ultimate objective: to boost the speed and quality of software development, therefore it makes little sense to discuss one without the other.
Many teams have found agile approaches to be quite beneficial, while others have failed to achieve the promised advantages of agile approaches. This is due to a variety of factors, such as teams not completely adopting agile techniques. It is also possible that integrating a DevOps strategy can help organizations that struggle with agile to achieve the desired results by filling in the gaps.
Blog written by
Bharati Bhagat