DevOps is not Dev & Ops – What I didn’t know about DevOps

All these years I have heard about DevOps, but I was truly convinced it was too techy for me.

I thought it was about continuous integration, automation, and awesome DevOps guys, who knew not only how to develop software but also how to release and manage production environments…

Now, I realise that I was completely wrong… DevOps is not Dev & Ops teams together… but an entire organisation that collaborates – really collaborates.

Of course you need automation; of course you need continuous integration – but that’s not all.

In a DevOps culture you must follow these rules:

  • Know the flow = understand how work goes from “to do” to “done”
  • You don’t work in a silo = instead of working in an isolated team that is just worried about their “own” work, you work for a purpose/value
  • You are constantly learning & improving = Don’t waste time – if something needs to be changed, change it

But how can you transform a whole organisation? Below, you can see some practical tips:

  • Make your work visible to everyone; don’t worry what others may think about it.
  • Change your mindset. Let me tell you a story, that someone once told me:

JFK, once when visiting NASA, saw a janitor cleaning the floor and asked him: What are you doing? He expected an answer like “I am cleaning the floor”, but instead the man said “I’m helping the men get to the Moon.”

  • Add value to your user stories; don’t create them just for someone to do something, but because you need to generate value, like improving customer satisfaction to 80%.
  • Collaborate, collaborate, collaborate even more… No man is an island, so don’t work like one.

Tools are not the most important element, but they can definitely help. Running shoes don’t make you a runner, but they will help you to run better.

If you are searching for tools that can help you understand the flow of work, make your work visible, and help you collaborate better with your team, just take a look at Jira, which allows teams to capture and organise work, assign it to the team and track team activity.

Sofia Neto

Collaboration & Development Solutions Manager, Xpand IT

Sílvia RaposoDevOps is not Dev & Ops – What I didn’t know about DevOps

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