DevOps would be beyond Dev and Ops this year

MUMBAI, INDIA: Rapidly promoting new code into production fuels the need for speed, but this can also be a fast track to digital failure. An accelerated pace of development puts pressure on the testing function, relegating it to a single phase within the software development lifecycle (SDLC). This is insufficient as customer expectations of digital experiences tend to escalate over time, rendering existing code not good enough.

The only way to produce good, quality code is to test it rigorously, and more importantly, to test it throughout the DevOps lifecycle. Testing can no longer be the job of quality assurance (QA) engineers alone, developers need to be able to test code and make the test results also available to operations.

This can be gathered from the chief trends that CA Technologies announced in DevOps. It expects these to come under the organizational spotlight in 2017.

DevOps removes the silos between the development and operations teams, advocating better communication and collaboration between the two units so organizations can achieve greater digital agility. Interestingly, the key trends surrounding DevOps this year are not specifically about development or operations, but will instead be on testing, security, and metrics.

“As organizations race to deliver innovations to market, they will find that ensuring the quality, security and performance of their applications are just as important as speed. DevOps plays a pivotal role in making sure these happen as businesses put software at the core of their DNA to survive and thrive in today’s application economy,” said Abhilash Purushothaman, Country Director & Head of DevOps Business for India & SAARC Region, CA Technologies.

Also - Development, security, and operations will unify to become DevSecOps. Security is likely to continue being an important topic this year, given the growing intensity and sophistication of cyber threats. In addition to speed and quality, good code also needs to protect users against cyber-malice, and organizations from negative publicity and reputational damage.

For code to be safe, it must be deployed within a solid security architecture. Security validation should be viewed as a special case of testing, as the requirements of security-related code testing are unique and dynamic, as well as involve experts and constituencies not usually included in the DevOps process.

The company also points at an increasing focus on DevOps metrics. Until recently, very few organizations have paid attention to DevOps metrics. After all, it can be tough to get basic DevOps processes, tools and culture in place. However, it is difficult to improve what cannot be measured, which is why the adoption and standardization of DevOps success metrics are likely to gain ground this year.

Metrics, both collective and individual, can improve digital practices in many ways. Collective metrics can discover bottlenecks in processes and optimize resource allocation. Individual metrics can pinpoint coaching needs and replicate good performance. With this variety of benefits, it is highly plausible that the industry will concur on a common set of metrics this year.