What is DevOps and why is it important?
DevOps is really a combination, or a joining forces of, a software development team and an operations team. This approach aims to continuously improve the practices for a development company, thereby improving customer satisfaction by reducing development times while maintaining the quality of the end product.
The concept was created as a solution to the problems that arise when teams work in silos, only communicating at handover. This way of working can lead to situations where the development team has to go back and correct issues that are only discovered when the operations team receives the completed software. When both teams work together, these issues can be found and resolved during development.
Continuous integration and deployment in DevOps
One of the practices integral to the DevOps lifecycle is continuous integration and deployment. This practice allows a team to integrate and deploy code without delay, speeding up software delivery.
Continuous integration refers to the practice of integrating code into a central repository so that developers can receive immediate feedback when committing code and fix errors quickly.
Continuous deployment is the practice of releasing deployed code to the customer immediately without human intervention. This process relies on automated testing. A failed test will end the deployment, requiring human intervention before it can be resumed.
Benefits of this approach
Implementing a successful DevOps initiative can bring several benefits:
- Speed up software delivery
Several aspects of DevOps came from the Agile method of working, which means that software can be developed and published quickly. The increased frequency and pace of software releases facilitates innovation and assists the team in responding to the customer’s needs and changes in the market.
- Reduce the amount of manual work
Automation is important in DevOps, as it’s critical to the practice of continuous deployment. More automation means less time spent doing manual tests, as well as fewer human errors.
- Enable collaboration
DevOps promotes communication and collaboration between teams, enabling the synchronisation of development and delivery cycles and greatly improving efficiency. Development and operations working so closely together also means that the time for handover between departments is reduced and ensures that the code takes into account the environment in which the software will be running.
Get the experts in custom software development
At Netgen, we firmly believe that the DevOps approach is an integral part of software development. If you are looking to develop a software solution, mobile app or website, contact us today.