The last ten years have seen a wide array of changes with the traditional SDLC and service delivery models, in particular the introduction and implementation of various new frameworks and methodologies like SCRUM, Agile Development, and DevOps Services to name a few.

Each concept brings its own set of challenges to any organization wanting to implement, in order to improve its existing operational mechanisms and innovate over legacy practices. One such phenomenon is DevOps. More and more companies are adopting some form of DevOps practices internally within their IT development and operations teams, in order to be at the forefront of innovative development and operational practices. However, there are still companies facing challenges in devops implementation due to a multitude of reasons that we will look in detail below and also highlight ways to resolve such issues.

Devops Challenges and Solutions

Aligning Dev and Ops Together
One of the most common hurdles in a DevOps environment is bringing both individual components to work together on a single approach strategy, which is the primary purpose of the DevOps concept. We usually witness members from the Dev side making changes without considering the input from the Ops side, who are aiming for optimal service levels. The difference in approach and priorities leads to internal clashes that affect project deliveries and turnarounds.

Reliance on Tools
A common misconception is that with the availability of a wide variety of DevOps tools, all likely problems are to be magically solved, when in reality that is not always the case. During complex business challenges, tools are hastily integrated without the requisite knowledge or experience by untrained employees. Without the adequate knowledge, these employees are not able to use these tools to full capacity and often face integration and security issues with existing infrastructures down the road.

Unsupportive to Change
The shift to a new technology is no smooth journey and the move to DevOps is no different. Previously carried out development practices have either changed or improved to a significant extent, leading to resistance from employees tasked to migrate and shiftover to DevOps practices rather suddenly. Besides being a huge technical and practical challenge for employees to undertake, it is equally a mental acceptance of ‘letting go’ of legacy practices that they are used to with.

Legacy Infrastructure
Legacy systems are seen as a major drawback for companies as the entire system is considered to be dated, slow, and inefficient. DevOps is a relatively new concept which involves the use of technologically advanced tools and is largely agile. Most problems are encountered where the existing system is of legacy in nature with minimal to no chances of compatibility and integration. Leaving companies in a tough financial position on deciding whether to continue with its existing systems or revamp/update its entire IT infrastructure.

The Way to Go

Top Management Commitment and Roadmap

It is imperative for upper management officials to realize their position and commit to certain goals that they intend on achieving. This includes introducing and gradually implementing a culture that supports DevOps Services and other associated practices that would eventually benefit the company and its people. At a macro level, companies should pursue a holistic approach to DevOps and facilitate the introduction of an Enterprise-level framework. This would allow multiple tools to be integrated between each other smoothly and continue collective operation and provide for a diversified feature set to DevOps teams.

Giving people time to embrace DevOps will allow them to get accustomed and understand its internal workings and potential benefits and how they would be able to contribute through the updated development practices. Maybe as a pilot project, introduce a small scale project for the Dev and Ops departments to remodel with DevOps practices. Once the members of a team by themselves witness the results in action, a more natural acceptance of such practices would be achieved. In time, the unfamiliarity with DevOps practices would decrease and a new norm in development style will be set.

In order to achieve optimal productivity for DevOps teams, it is important for them to have a common goal and not pursue individual goals. Having a collective mindset will allow for greater efficiency and reduce the chances of clashes, thus minimizing DevOps related delays and other forms of inconsistencies. One way to make this possible is to promote open and frequent communication between each members of the team.

DevOps teams should be provided with adequate training before considering to launch/practice any form of DevOps development services and or practices in a company. Having a workforce that is properly trained with the requisite know how to operate advanced DevOps tools will lead to them feeling confident in what they are doing, this would be seen in the form of increased productivity and better decisions being made over all.