Implement DevOps Practices

That Work
Streamline business value delivery through the strategic
adoption of DevOps practices.

EXECUTIVE BRIEF
Executive Summary
Your Challenge
• In today’s world, business agility is essential
to stay competitive. Quick responses to
business needs through efficient development
and deployment practices are critical for
business value delivery.
• Organizations are looking to DevOps as an
approach to rapidly deliver changes, but they
often lack the foundations to use DevOps
effectively.
Common Obstacles
• Development and operations teams
traditionally operate within silos.
Interactions are typically limited to “throw it
over the wall” deployment requests and
routing of change requests back to
development.
• Silos often create poor visibility and limited
communication, resulting in a lack of
empathy or awareness that decisions have
upstream or downstream impacts on other
teams.
Info-Tech’s Approach
• Use Info-Tech’s MATURE DevOps
Framework, a value-driven approach, to give
a common vision for teams across silos and to
translate the benefits of DevOps into a
common language that each team and the
business can understand.
• Conduct brainstorming sessions to delve into
customer, development, release, and
application support challenges, and implement
approaches so that the business, development,
and operations can collaboratively work
together.

Info-Tech Insight
A vision without tactics is an unsubstantiated dream, while tactics without a vision is working without a purpose. You need to have a handle on both to
achieve outcomes that are aligned with the needs of your organization.
Your DevOps Implementation Journey
1 2
Implement Agile Practices That W
ork
1. Educate and train your executive,
management, and delivery teams to adopt
Agile the right way.
2. Assess your current software
development lifecycle (SDLC), culture,
and environment to evaluate Agile fit and
determine what changes need to be
implemented.
3. Conduct a structured evaluation of Agile
to assess and recognize the benefits of
Agile in your organization and teams.
Modernize Your SDLC
1. Set reasonable SDLC expectations and
actionable guiding principles.
2. Define the steps and stages needed to
deliver software and technology changes
from intake to deployment, including new
features and maintenance effort.
3. Identify the roles, responsibilities, and
tools supporting your SDLC.
We Are Here
3
Implement DevOps Practices That
Work
1. Use a value-driven approach to give a
common vision for teams across silos.
2. Conduct brainstorming sessions to delve
into customer, development, release, and
application support challenges.
3. Structure a DevOps governance and
metrics program that promotes
collaboration, transparency, and empathy
across teams.
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What is DevOps?

DevOps is an operational philosophy that seeks to promote an improved relationship between

Development and Operations to break down existing silos and better align the groups in providing
customer value.

Because common understanding of value is so critical to DevOps, you need to frame value in a language that the
business, development, and operations can mutually understand and achieve.

Many areas of the industry clarifies the goals and objectives of DevOps using the CALM
(Culture, Automation, Lean, Metrics) framework or some variation of it. This framework
may help frame your understanding of DevOps, but it does not provide the structure or
guidance to integrate DevOps into your software development lifecycle (SDLC) and
development methodologies.

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 DevOps has roots in Agile and Lean
Agile is the precursor to and became the core driver for DevOps because: Lean was used for minimizing cycle times through:

• Developers coded faster • Continuous Integration

• Testers validated code quicker • Automated Testing

• Release Engineers deployed to Dev, Test, and Production frequently • Continuous Deployment and Continuous Delivery

The Dev’s View The Ops’ View The Business View

We need:
• To work with Ops and understand the
production systems our code will run on.
• To be more engaged in overall quality
assurance.
• To monitor our systems and track
measures that Ops are interested in.
We need:
• To know what code is coming and its impact
on our infrastructure.
• To assess steps that can be automated
(Infrastructure as a Code – IaaC).
• To monitor everything in the delivery pipeline,
irrespective of the environment.
We need:
• Visibility into what IT is delivering and
when.
• Visibility into how the applications are
being used in production.
• Visibility into how we can create a product
centric perspective at an organization
level.
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Recognize that throughput and quality go hand in hand
Info-Tech’s research shows application development throughput can benefit from effective application
development quality. Use DevOps to build quality into each aspect of your delivery process first and
speed will follow.

There is a statistically significant positive correlation between Why Is There a Correlation?

application development throughput effectiveness and
application development quality effectiveness. • Upstream recognition of quality issues and risks
10.0 minimizes the increased cost to address these issues
9.0 R² = 0.729886429422197 and risks downstream.
Application Development Quality Effectiveness

8.0
• Having a clear understanding of the business and
7.0 architectural rationale behind development decisions
6.0 ensures the right product is built.
5.0

4.0
• Efforts are focused on the most critical scenarios and
valuable items.
3.0

2.0 • Reduce rework and maintenance post production.

1.0

0.0
0.0 1.0 2.0 3.0 4.0 5.0 6.0 7.0 8.0 9.0 10.0

Application Development Throughput Effectiveness

N=1,078 organizations from Info-Tech’s Management & Governance Diagnostic.
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 DevOps alone will not bring your delivery teams together
Collaboration begins on day one, but it is usually considered and performed too late to be effective.

DevOps emphasizes the importance of strong relationships among all IT teams. However, it does not address the friction that arises from
the fragmentation of delivery roles commonly found in traditional delivery practices.

Maintaining the walls around your delivery siloes can limit the value of your DevOps implementation.

The lack of team integration and collaboration impacts both team morale and product quality.

Ambiguous Requirements Definition Poor Collaboration Within/Between Teams

of organizations stated this factor was of organizations stated this factor was guaranteed
40%
62%
guaranteed to undermine quality. to undermine quality.

Poor Requirements Change Management

of organizations stated this factor was
47%
guaranteed to undermine quality.
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Source: Freeform Dynamics, 2018.
An organization is a complex, multi-layered system, and DevOps
practices can improve many of them

Vision Strategic Alignment Stakeholder Relations

Application Portfolio Planning (Backlog

Quality Assurance Monitoring
Management Management)
Lifecycle
Management Delivery
Vendor Management Resource & Capacity Support
Measurement

Software Coding &

Business Analysis User Experience
Delivery Build Management Release &
Test Management Deployment
Execution Technical Analysis Selection & System Management
(Solution Design) Procurement Configuration

Team Leadership & Team Practice Team Design & Knowledge

Management People Development
Culture Development Governance Management

Legend Enhanced by DevOps Practices

Use Info-Tech’s MATURE DevOps Framework to accelerate the
integration of DevOps into your SDLC
DevOps adoption hinges on an organization’s ability to adhere to a set of core principles that will allow the realization of critical success factors.
The foundation of such principles must be based on communication and collaboration, else you may end up in the same siloed structures that have historically failed.
Use Info-Tech Research’s MATURE DevOps Framework to plan, implement, and monitor the progress of your transformation to DevOps-based delivery.

Even though these guiding principles

Measure What Matters are presented separately, they have a
symbiotic relationship with each other.
Measure What Matters
Accommodate
Change
Accommodate Change
Transition Efficiently The successful implementation of one
can prove beneficial in accelerating the
Unify Around Objectives expected benefits from one (or more) of
the others.
Make Work Evident Transition Efficiently Right-Size Releases
Make Work Evident
Right-Size Unify Around
Releases Objectives Info-Tech Insight: The fundamental root cause of delivery-related issues is not in
the use or absence of tools. It is always rooted in core cultural inefficiencies and
their impacts on the people who are part of it.

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Info-Tech’s MATURE DevOps Framework is inspired by and feeds into
CLAIM-G
The MATURE framework can be used to help individual teams adopt DevOps principles. Once the decision to spread DevOps organizationally is made, use Info-
Tech’s CLAIM-G framework to accomplish this objective.

DevOps is a radical change in how people work and

Culture (or the default way of doing work) lays the think. Structured, facilitated learning is required
philosophical foundation for an org-wide adoption of throughout the transformation to help leaders and
good practices like DevOps and Agile methods. practitioners create mutual understanding and
synergies across the organization.

As organizations attempt to spread DevOps Metrics Learning

Culture
and
Automation
Governance DevOps organizations strive towards the automation
Integrated Teams
across their teams, a strong and reasonable of delivery and operational capabilities to achieve
governance and measurement model must be in self-service and continuous delivery (CD).
place. It assists with ensuring the best Automation comes with a heavy investment so it
techniques are known about and used. must be applied in the right areas.

While temporary teams can get some benefits from DevOps,

standing, self-organizing teams that cross business, delivery, and
operations are essential to gain the full benefits of DevOps.
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 DevOps Topology
Dev Weak
Ops Maybe The right topology makes acceptance of and success with DevOps practices more likely.
DevOps Function Strong

Culture of Ease of Benefits From

Description
Collaboration Communication DevOps

The traditional topology at organizations that are not using Agile-inspired delivery methods.
Us & Them
This is a remnant of siloed delivery method using Waterfall.

Dev and Ops teams work together as a temporary “product team” in response to demand for
Shared Responsibilities
resources. Once release is completed, Dev and Ops will revert to a functional topology.

The ideal topology for DevOps practices. Product teams are dedicated to the overall success
Product Orientation
of the product and have a stronger collaborative resource team.

A dedicated DevOps mentor coordinates the implementation of good practices across siloed
Man-in-the-Middle
Dev and Ops teams.
Contain-ed The Dev team uses containers to package the working software, removing the need to
Relationship
collaborate on system configuration specifics with Ops.
The Dev team is solely responsible for developing, packaging, and deploying software, with
Full-Stack Delivery
Ops only being concerned with general system maintenance and troubleshooting.
Due to lack of (or no desire for) in-house Dev teams, organizations depend upon vendors to
Vendor Managed provide software engineering and delivery services. Ops are only focused on system
maintenance.
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Info-Tech’s methodology for Implement DevOps
Practices That Work
Pre-Work Phase 1 Phase 2 Phase 3 Phase 4

1. Review the outcome of the
DevOps Readiness Survey.
Phase Steps
1.1 Articulate the current state
delivery process.
1.2 Categorize existing challenges
using PEAS.
2.1 Brainstorm solutions for
identified challenges
2.2 Understand different DevOps
topologies within the context of
strong communication and
collaboration.
3.1 Identify metrics that are
sensible and provide meaningful
insights into your organization’s
DevOps transition.
3.2 (Optional) Assess DevOps
pipeline maturity.
4.1 Using criteria like cost, effort,
opportunity cost, and other
organization-specific qualifiers,
create a roadmap of
enhancements that are needed for
DevOps transition.

3.3 Determine the set of tools that

satisfy enterprise standards and
can be used to implement DevOps
practices.

1. Baseline assessment of
the organization’s
readiness for introducing
DevOps principles in its
Phase
delivery process.
Outcomes
1. A categorized list of
challenges currently
evident in the delivery
process.
1. A list of solutions that will
enhance the current
delivery process into one
which is influenced by
DevOps principles.
2. (Optional) Identify a team
topology that works for
your organization.
1. A list of metrics that will
assist in measuring the
progress of your
organization’s DevOps
transition.
2. A list of tools that meet
enterprise standards and
enhance delivery
processes.
1. Roadmap for
enhancements (process,
tool, topology) that will
assist the organization’s
transition to DevOps.
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Key deliverable: Blueprint deliverables
Each step of this blueprint is accompanied by supporting deliverables to help
you accomplish your goals:

DevOps Roadmap
A Maturity Assessment of
DevOps Practices
Record the results from the exercises to
DevOps Roadmap
help you define, detail, and make real
your digital product vision.

A roadmap template that captures the

outcomes of various exercises and can be
used as a reference in the future.
A DevOps Readiness
Assessment

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Info-Tech offers various levels of
support to best suit your needs

Guided Implementation
DIY Toolkit Workshop Consulting
“Our team has already made this “Our team knows that we need to “We need to hit the ground “Our team does not have the time
critical project a priority, and we fix a process, but we need running and get this project or the knowledge to take this
have the time and capability, but assistance to determine where to kicked off immediately. Our project on. We need assistance
some guidance along the way focus. Some check-ins along the team has the ability to take this through the entirety of this
would be helpful.”  way would help keep us on over once we get a framework project.”
track.” and strategy in place.”

Diagnostics and consistent frameworks are used throughout all four options.

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Workshop Overview
Day 1
1. Review the outcome of the DevOps
Readiness Survey.
2. Articulate the current state delivery
process.
Exercises 3. Categorize existing challenges using
PEAS.
1. Baseline assessment of the
organization’s readiness for
introducing DevOps principles in
its delivery process.
Outcomes 2. A categorized list of challenges
currently evident in the delivery
process.
Day 2
1. Brainstorm solutions for identified
challenges.
2. Understanding different DevOps
topologies within the context of
strong communication and
collaboration.
1. A list of solutions that will
enhance the current delivery
process into one which is
influenced by DevOps principles.
2. (Optional) Identify a team
topology that works for your
organization.
Contact your account representative for more information.
workshops@infotech.com 1-888-670-8889
Day 3 Day 4
1. Identify metrics that are sensible and 1. Build roadmap for future-state
provide meaningful insights into your delivery process.
organization’s DevOps transition.
2. (Optional) Assess DevOps pipeline
maturity.
3. Determine the set of tools that
satisfy enterprise standards and can
be used to implement DevOps
practices.
1. A list of metrics that will assist in 1. Roadmap for future-state delivery
measuring the progress of your process.
organization’s DevOps transition.
2. A list of tools that meet enterprise
standards and enhance delivery
processes.
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Guided Implementation A Guided
What does a typical GI on this topic look like? Implementation (GI) is
series of calls with an
Info-Tech analyst to
Phase 1 Phase 2 Phase 3 Phase 4
help implement our
best practices in your
organization.
Call #1: Discuss Call #4: Brainstorm Call #6: Identify Call #8: Make a roadmap
DevOps Readiness solutions to metrics that are for DevOps transition.
Assessment result. identified challenges. useful and insightful. This GI is between 8 to
10 calls over the
course of
Call #2: Discuss Call #5: Discuss Call #7: approximately four to
existing delivery possible team Conceptualize a
process. topologies for delivery pipeline
six months.
DevOps. for DevOps.

Call #3: Categorize

identified challenges.

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