What is DevOps?

Let's try to figure out what this beast is and what we're actually doing here

It is commonly accepted that DevOps is a set of practices, not a job title, a specialization, and so on. In a single phrase, you could put it this way:

Let's break this down in more detail. The word DevOps itself comes from Development & Operations. Thus, development in this case is inextricably linked with operations, that is, with the running of the software.

What kind of changes are we even talking about? These can be changes in processes as well as in the technologies a company uses. After all, as we know, progress never stands still, and reasonably following new trends can genuinely improve the quality of the services provided, increase development speed, and raise the frequency of releases with new features.

What to measure, why, and how to do it?

You can measure (the list is, of course, not exhaustive):

• The number of new features per unit of time
• The number of requests to the application and how many of them are successful
• Growth in the number of customers
• Increase in the average transaction value
• Reduction of maintenance costs and lower hardware costs

Challenges on the Path to DevOps

There is no single scenario for adopting DevOps practices that works for every organization. That is precisely one of the challenges: finding approaches that work in a given company, taking its realities and needs into account. In particular, you can't forget about legacy — that is, how the software currently works and is delivered. For example, the desire to package everything into Kubernetes just because it's currently in vogue and "everyone is using it" should match your capabilities and provide benefits, rather than reflect a global trend.

It's also worth emphasizing what DevOps IS NOT: