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Vsasf Tech ICT Academy, Enugu in early 2025 introduced a hybrid learning system that is flexible for all her courses offered to the general public. With E-learn platform powered by Vsasf Nig Ltd, all students can continue learning from far distance irrespective of one's location, hence promoting ODL system of education for Nigerians and the world at large.

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What Is a Jenkins Pipeline?

Jenkins Pipeline is a feature of the Jenkins build server, deployed as a plugin, that lets you implement continuous delivery (CD) pipelines on the Jenkins automation server.

Continuous delivery pipelines are automated sequences of processes to deliver software from version control to customers and end-users. Each software change a developer commits in source control passes through a set of automated processes before being released to production. The pipeline involves building software using repeatable, reliable steps and pushing the build through various testing and deployment stages.

Jenkins Pipelines offers an extensible toolset to model delivery pipelines of varying complexity. Developers build pipelines as code using Domain-Specific Language (DSL).

Each Jenkins pipeline has a definition written in a text-based Jenkinsfile, which development teams can commit to their source control repository. This textual approach is the core of the pipeline-as-code method that treats the CD pipeline as an integral part of the application code. Like other code, team members can version and review it. 

Jenkins Pipeline Syntax with Examples

Traditional Jenkins pipelines are scripted, meaning they prescribe the exact order of steps that need to happen in the pipeline. Pipelines are coded as Jenkinsfiles, and the end-to-end pipeline script is written in Groovy, and require some programming knowledge.  

Here is a simple example of a scripted Jenkinsfile. To begin with, we use the 

node

 statement, which says that this pipeline and any of its stages should be run on any available Jenkins agent.

 

Jenkinsfile (Scripted Pipeline)
 
node {

Now we define several 

stage

 blocks. These are optional, but highly recommended because they make it easy to understand the tasks or steps occurring in each stage. Stage block descriptions are displayed in the Jenkins UI.

 

Here we are defining three stages – 

Build

, 

Test

, and 

Deploy

. Each of them can contain specific scripted code that performs the required operations. 

 

stage('Build') {
//
}
stage('Test') {
//
}
stage('Deploy') {
//
}
}

Jenkins Declarative Pipeline

Recently, Jenkins Pipeline introduced declarative pipelines. This provides a new syntax you can use to define the desired end result of the pipeline, and Jenkins will automatically perform the required options. 

Declarative pipelines require predefined constructs, and so are less flexible than scripted pipelines. On the other hand, they are easier to work with and do not require knowledge of Groovy code. Another plus is that Jenkins can automatically validate the syntax of a declarative pipeline.

The code looks like this. We start with the 

pipeline

 statement that specifies this is a declarative pipeline.

 

Jenkinsfile (Declarative Pipeline)
pipeline {

The 

agent any

 statement is a declarative syntax that tells Jenkins to allocate an executor on a node and create a workspace for the pipeline.

 

agent any

Next, we define build steps. Note that unlike the scripted pipeline above, within each stage block is a steps statement. This is a declarative syntax that describes the steps to be run in this stage.

stages {
stage('Build') {
steps {
sh 'make'
}
}
stage('Test'){
steps {
sh 'make check'
junit 'reports/**/*.xml'
}
}
stage('Deploy') {
steps {
sh 'make publish'
}
}
}
}

This code runs the following operations:

  • In the Build stage, we run 
    sh 'make'
    . The Jenkins Pipeline Nodes and Processes plugin executes the required shell command.
  • In the Test stage, we use JUnit to aggregate test reports. It executes via the JUnit plugin.
  • In the Deploy stage, we run 
    sd 'make publish'
    . Again this is executed by the Nodes and Processes plugin.
Authors: T. C. Okenna
Register for this course: Enrol Now

What Is Agile Software Development?

Agile software development methodologies often called Agile, preach flexibility and pragmatism in the application delivery process. This iterative software development approach delivers value to users in small increments rather than through a single large launch. Agile teams evaluate requirements and results continuously, which leads to the efficient implementation of change.

Using Agile gives teams the ability to create value in the face of a dynamic market and fast-paced competition while maintaining speed and efficiency. Creating a pan-org collaborative work culture is a crucial tenet of Agile as it drives teams to work together with a deep understanding of individual roles within the system.

Agile also mandates testing throughout the development cycle. This allows teams to make changes whenever required, alert each other of potential problems, and consequently gives them the confidence to create and release high-quality applications.

The core values of Agile are embodied in the Agile Manifesto, which was created by a group of software development personnel in 2001. This manifesto outlines four key concepts that encourage lightweight development, outlined below.

  • Prioritize people over tools & processes. While the latter is undoubtedly essential, meaningful individual interactions are a vital driver of the software development process and help create an effective response to business needs.
  • Well-built application comes before in-depth documentation. Agile doesn’t completely do away with documentation but focuses on giving the development team only the information they need to meet their goal, such as user stories.
  • Replace contract negotiations between the project manager and client with frequent collaboration. The product can take shape according to the customer’s vision more effectively if they’re involved throughout the development process rather than just at the start and end.
  • Respond to change swiftly & effectively. Agile dismisses the notion of change as an undesired expense. Instead, it values change and encourages short iterations to allow for modifications to be made quickly and easily.

Apart from these core values, the Agile Manifesto outlines 12 principles for development teams to improve their functioning:

  1. Divide large tasks into smaller pieces for quick completion
  2. Focus on customer satisfaction through the speedy and continuous delivery of value
  3. Ensure the creation of processes that drive sustainable efforts
  4. Accept changing requirements, even if introduced at a later phase in project
  5. Welcome change as a means to achieve a competitive advantage
  6. Give motivated team members the work environment and trust required to complete requirements quickly.
  7. Acknowledge that self-organized teams deliver the best work
  8. Measure progress based on work completed
  9. Complete work at a consistent pace
  10. Ensure regular collaboration between project and business teams throughout the project duration
  11. Regularly reflect on how one can adjust team behavior to enhance effectiveness
  12. Finally, constantly strive for excellence.

Implementing Agile requires a shift in the culture of traditional companies as it drives the clean delivery of isolated components rather than an entire application at once. Today, Agile has replaced the Waterfall software development model in most companies. However, it may be replaced or merged with DevOps as the latter grows in popularity globally.

Agile Software Development Life Cycle

The Agile life cycle sees developers strategically move the application from conceptualization to retirement.

Agile Software Development Life Cycle

Agile Software Development Life Cycle

Listed below are the steps of this cycle:

1. Conceptualization

In the first step of the Agile life cycle, the product owner defines the project scope. In the case of multiple projects, the critical ones are prioritized. Depending on the organization’s structure, personnel may be assigned to more than one project at once.

This stage sees the product owner and the client discuss essential requirements and formulate basic documentation based on the finalized project goals. This documentation, perhaps in the form of a product requirements document (PRD), will include the proposed aim of the project and supported features. The time and cost of the project are also estimated at this stage.

The in-depth analysis carried out during conceptualization helps determine feasibility before work starts. Developers can aim to complete only the most critical requirements as one can add more in later stages. 

2. Inception

Once the project is conceptualized, the next step is building the software development team. In this stage, the product owner checks the availability of team members and assigns the best available ones to the project. The product owner is responsible for giving these team members the required resources.

Once the team is set, it will begin the design process by creating a mock-up of the user interface and, perhaps, a few user flow and UML diagrams. The project architecture is also built at this stage. The designed elements are then shown to the stakeholders for further input.

All this lets the team fully establish the requirements in the design and figure out application functionality and how it will all fit into the existing system. Frequent check-ins by the business team will ensure that inception stays on track.

3. Construction

The construction phase, known as the iteration phase, is where most work happens. This is usually the longest phase, with the dev team and the UX designers collaborating closely to bring together the requirements and feedback and interpret the design into code.

The construction goal is to create the application’s basic functionality before the first iteration (or ‘sprint’, as described below) ends. Additional secondary features and minor modifications can occur in future iterations. The main goal is to swiftly create a working application and implement improvements for client satisfaction.

4. Release

When the team enters this stage, the product should be nearly ready to release. However, before this can happen, the QA team must test the application and make sure it is fully functional according to the decided project goals. Testing also takes place to ensure that no bugs and defects exist in the code; if any are found, they must be reported swiftly and fixed by the dev team. Clean code is a cornerstone of this stage.

This phase also includes user training, the creation of the system, and user documentation to support it. Visualizing the code is helpful here. Once all the defects are ironed out, and user training is completed, the final iteration of the product can be taken live and released into production.

5. Production and maintenance

Once the application is released successfully and made available to end users, the team moves into maintenance mode. This phase sees the dev team providing continuous support to ensure smooth system operations and quash any newly found bugs.

The team will also be on call to offer additional training to customers and resolve post-live queries to ensure that the product is used as intended. Developers can also use the feedback collected during this stage to plan the features and upgrades for the next iterations.

6. Retirement

The application may be slated for retirement for two reasons: replacement with a new version or the lack of a use case due to redundancy or obsolescence.

If an application enters this phase, the first step is to notify users of the impending retirement of the software. Next, one must ensure a smooth migration to the new system. Finally, the dev team must complete all the pending end-of-life activities and cease the support provided to the existing application.

Sprint planning in Agile

Each Agile phase outlined above leads to the creation of numerous software iterations. These iterations are created as the dev team repeats its processes to refine the application and create the best possible version according to the determined project requirements. These iterations are ‘sub-cycles’ contained within the larger Agile software development life cycle.

The Agile life cycle divides work into ‘sprints’ to complete these iterations. The goal of each sprint is to produce a working application. A typical sprint should last for 10 business days (2 weeks).

Outlined below is the typical sprint workflow:

  1. Planning: Each sprint starts with a ‘sprint planning meeting’, in which team members get together and decide which objectives will be addressed through the upcoming work round. During this meeting, the product manager must prioritize work from the task backlog and assign tasks to specific members.
  2. Development: Once the plan is in place, the team works to design and develop the application according to existing guidelines.
  3. QA testing: After the application is developed, the QA team tests it thoroughly, drives the correction of any errors or shortcomings, and documents the results.
  4. Delivery: Post testing, the application is ready for deployment and is presented to all relevant stakeholders and customers.
  5. Assessment: After delivery, feedback is collected from customers and combined with other relevant information for implementation during the next sprint.

 

Sprint planning meetings are helpful, but the team should also meet regularly (if possible, daily) to take stock of the sprint’s progress and sort out any clashes. Collaboration and receptiveness to change are key components of the Agile life cycle and a proven way to keep the process moving effectively.

Agile Software Development Methodologies

Agile software development is not a singular framework of methodologies. Rather, it encompasses numerous project management frameworks.

Listed below are four well-known Agile methodologies:

1. Scrum

Scrum is perhaps the most popular Agile project management methodology. Sprints define it, and it advocates maximizing application development time and achieving the product goal. This goal is a big-picture value objective that comes closer to realization with each sprint.

A team following the Scrum methodology begins its day with a 15-minute meeting to synchronize all activities and chalk out the best path for the day ahead. The product manager can take this opportunity to check on the ‘health’ of the sprint and the project’s progress.

Although Scrum is popularly associated with software development, one can use it successfully in most business contexts.

Advantages of Scrum Disadvantages of Scrum
  • Strong planning, with the whole team understanding the ‘what, why, how’ of allocated tasks
  • High motivation, as the team works to meet every sprint deadline
  • High transparency that allows the project to be tracked at the team and even org level
  • Validate requirements through a simple ‘definition of done’ method.
  • Focus on ensuring quality and minimizing mistakes
  • Flexible prioritization, as product owners can shift focus to urgent sprints frequently
  • High focus on specific parts of the project can lead to the team losing track of the big picture
  • Organizations may not define the role of individual members in detail, which can lead to confusion

2. Kanban

The term Kanban has Japanese origins and is associated with the concept of ‘just in time’. This method splits a ‘Kanban board’ (board or table) into columns. Each flow within the project is shown in columns as a ‘card’, and the information changes as developments move ahead. A new card is added whenever a new task is introduced.

Kanban drives transparency and communication by allowing members from across teams to see the project status at any given time. Its primary focus is team capacity, which is especially useful for iterations with multiple minor changes. Besides software development, Kanban is useful for business departments such as HR and marketing, as it drives visibility for all team tasks.

Advantages of Kanban Disadvantages of Kanban
  • Simple to use
  • See all tasks of one project at the same time, based on category (done, processing, testing, etc.)
  • Control the number of tasks being worked on based on priority
  • Transparent cycle duration–from backlog to completed
  • Drives continuous delivery
  • Lack of timeframes can lead to delays
  • Data can be misinterpreted, especially if not updated frequently

3. Extreme Programming (XP)

This typical Agile framework focuses on discovering the ‘simplest way to make it happen’ while deprioritizing the long-term product goal. Its core values include simplicity, communication, courage, respect, and feedback. XP’s highest priority is customer satisfaction, and it encourages the team to accept changes in project requirements even at later stages of the development process.

Teamwork is also a key component of XP, with customers, managers, and team members working closely to ensure the efficient creation of the best possible application. In XP, testing takes place from day one, and feedback is continuously collected to enhance quality. Activities such as pair programming are encouraged in this engineering methodology.

Advantages of XP Disadvantages of XP
  • Simplified code that one can improve in later iterations
  • Transparent development cycle and high process visibility lead to efficient goal-setting and quick results
  • High development agility due to continuous testing
  • Encourages high-energy work and nurtures talent
  • High focus on code can lead to less attention to design, making it a separate task rather than part of the original requirement
  • Lack of focus on testing documentation can lead to similar errors being repeated
  • Not ideal for teams working remotely

4. Lean Development

Directly adapted from Toyota’s Lean Manufacturing; this software development method pushes the team to mercilessly scrap every activity that does not add value to the product. 

Its seven core principles are:

  1. Ruthlessly delete everything that doesn’t matter for product quality
  2. Focus on quality development
  3. Create knowledge through valuable documentation
  4. Don’t plan development without a complete understanding of the business requirements
  5. Deliver value to the customer as quickly as possible
  6. Communicate regularly, manage conflicts swiftly, and develop a culture of respect
  7. Finally, don’t focus on partial optimization and ensure that the whole application is high-quality

 

Advantages of Lean Disadvantages of Lean
  • Minimizes time and money spent
  • Boosts motivation by briefing the team during the decision-making process
  • Highly adaptable and scalable
  • Minimize the risk of over-engineering
  • Has a high dependency on dedicated and talented team members
  • Dividing tasks into sub-tasks can make it harder to focus
  • Relatively heavy on documentation
  •  
Authors: T. C. Okenna
Register for this course: Enrol Now

DevOps Lifecycle

DevOps is a practice that enables a single team to handle the whole application lifecycle, including development, testing, release, deployment, operation, display, and planning. It is a mix of the terms “Dev” (for development) and “Ops” (for operations). We can speed up the delivery of applications and services by a business with the aid of DevOps. Amazon, Netflix, and other businesses have all effectively embraced DevOps to improve their customer experience.

DevOps Lifecycle is the set of phases that includes DevOps for taking part in Development and Operation group duties for quicker software program delivery. DevOps follows positive techniques that consist of code, building, testing, releasing, deploying, operating, displaying, and planning. DevOps lifecycle follows a range of phases such as non-stop development, non-stop integration, non-stop testing, non-stop monitoring, and non-stop feedback. Each segment of the DevOps lifecycle is related to some equipment and applied sciences to obtain the process. Some of the frequently used tools are open source and are carried out primarily based on commercial enterprise requirements. DevOps lifecycle is effortless to manipulate and it helps satisfactory delivery. 

7 Cs of DevOps 

  1. Continuous Development
  2. Continuous Integration
  3. Continuous Testing
  4. Continuous Deployment/Continuous Delivery
  5. Continuous Monitoring
  6. Continuous Feedback
  7. Continuous Operations
DevOps Lifecycle

1. Continuous Development

In Continuous Development code is written in small, continuous bits rather than all at once, Continuous Development is important in DevOps because this improves efficiency every time a piece of code is created, it is tested, built, and deployed into production. Continuous Development raises the standard of the code and streamlines the process of repairing flaws, vulnerabilities, and defects. It facilitates developers’ ability to concentrate on creating high-quality code.

Continuous Development

 

2. Continuous Integration 

Continuous Integration can be explained mainly in 4 stages in DevOps. They are as follows:

  1. Getting the SourceCode from SCM
  2. Building the code
  3. Code quality review
  4. Storing the build artifacts 

The stages mentioned above are the flow of Continuous Integration and we can use any of the tools that suit our requirement in each stage and of the most popular tools are GitHub for source code management(SCM) when the developer develops the code on his local machine he pushes it to the remote repository which is GitHub from here who is having the access can Pull, clone and can make required changes to the code. From there by using Maven we can build them into the required package (war, jar, ear) and can test the Junit cases.SonarQube performs code quality reviews where it will measure the quality of source code and generates a report in the form of HTML or PDF format. Nexus for storing the build artifacts will help us to store the artifacts that are build by using Maven and this whole process is achieved by using a Continuous Integration tool Jenkins.

 
Continuous Integration

 

3. Continuous Testing

Any firm can deploy continuous testing with the use of the agile and DevOps methodologies. Depending on our needs, we can perform continuous testing using automation testing tools such as Testsigma, Selenium, LambdaTest, etc. With these tools, we can test our code and prevent problems and code smells, as well as test more quickly and intelligently. With the aid of a continuous integration platform like Jenkins, the entire process can be automated, which is another added benefit.

Continuous Testing

 

4. Continuous Deployment/ Continuous Delivery

Continuous Deployment: Continuous Deployment is the process of automatically deploying an application into the production environment when it has completed testing and the build stages. Here, we’ll automate everything from obtaining the application’s source code to deploying it.

Continuous Deployment

 

Continuous Delivery: Continuous Delivery is the process of deploying an application into production servers manually when it has completed testing and the build stages. Here, we’ll automate the continuous integration processes, however, manual involvement is still required for deploying it to the production environment.

 
Continuous Delivery

 

Continuous Deployment/ Continuous Delivery
 

5. Continuous Monitoring

DevOps lifecycle is incomplete if there was no Continuous Monitoring. Continuous Monitoring can be achieved with the help of Prometheus and Grafana we can continuously monitor and can get notified before anything goes wrong with the help of Prometheus we can gather many performance measures, including CPU and memory utilization, network traffic, application response times, error rates, and others. Grafana makes it possible to visually represent and keep track of data from time series, such as CPU and memory utilization.

6. Continuous Feedback

Once the application is released into the market the end users will use the application and they will give us feedback about the performance of the application and any glitches affecting the user experience after getting multiple feedback from the end users’ the DevOps team will analyze the feedbacks given by end users and they will reach out to the developer team tries to rectify the mistakes they are performed in that piece of code by this we can reduce the errors or bugs that which we are currently developing and can produce much more effective results for the end users also we reduce any unnecessary steps to deploy the application. Continuous Feedback can increase the performance of the application and reduce bugs in the code making it smooth for end users to use the application.

7. Continuous Operations 

We will sustain the higher application uptime by implementing continuous operation, which will assist us to cut down on the maintenance downtime that will negatively impact end users’ experiences. More output, lower manufacturing costs, and better quality control are benefits of continuous operations.

Different Phases of the DevOps Lifecycle

  1. Plan: Professionals determine the commercial need and gather end-user opinions throughout this level. In this step, they design a project plan to optimize business impact and produce the intended result.
  2. Code – During this point, the code is being developed. To simplify the design process, the developer team employs lifecycle DevOps tools and extensions like Git that assist them in preventing safety problems and bad coding standards.
  3. Build – After programmers have completed their tasks, they use tools such as Maven and Gradle to submit the code to the common code source. 
  4. Test – To assure software integrity, the product is first delivered to the test platform to execute various sorts of screening such as user acceptability testing, safety testing, integration checking, speed testing, and so on, utilizing tools such as JUnit, Selenium, etc. 
  5. Release – At this point, the build is prepared to be deployed in the operational environment. The DevOps department prepares updates or sends several versions to production when the build satisfies all checks based on the organizational demands.
  6. Deploy – At this point, Infrastructure-as-Code assists in creating the operational infrastructure and subsequently publishes the build using various DevOps lifecycle tools.
  7. Operate – This version is now convenient for users to utilize. With tools including Chef, the management department take care of server configuration and deployment at this point. 
  8. Monitor – The DevOps workflow is observed at this level depending on data gathered from consumer behavior, application efficiency, and other sources. The ability to observe the complete surroundings aids teams in identifying bottlenecks affecting the production and operations teams’ performance. 
Authors: T. C. Okenna
Register for this course: Enrol Now

Benefits of DevOps

DevOps is a practice that combines software development and IT operations to improve the speed, quality, and efficiency of software delivery. By breaking down traditional silos between development and operations teams and promoting a culture of continuous improvement, DevOps helps organizations achieve their goals and remain competitive in today’s fast-paced digital landscape. To better understand how we asked engineers what key DevOps benefits they noticed since working with this approach.

Primary DevOps Benefits

The following are the core benefits DevOps brings to the way a company works.

1. Improved Time-to-Resolution & Reduced Complexity

DevOps best practices aim to improve the speed and quality of software delivery by automating manual processes and streamlining workflows. This reduces the time to solve problems more quickly, leading to an improved time-to-resolution, as issues can be identified and fixed more efficiently.

Additionally, DevOps emphasizes collaboration and communication between development and operations teams, improving cross-functional collaboration. DevOps also promotes continuous monitoring and feedback, enabling organizations to proactively explore untapped opportunities and resolve problems.

According to Dražen Kovačević, System Integration Manager at Laserline Croatia, “The DevOps team is the bridge that bridges the Dev world from the system engineering world, taking care that their synergy is stronger and thus the product is more stable and better, which certainly affects the business aspect as well.”

2. Greater Scalability and Reliability

By introducing consistency and repeatability into workflows, DevOps allows organizations to deliver software faster and more frequently, which is essential for achieving fast outcomes, which leads to scalability.

Dražen Kovačević also added that “for both areas to develop agilely, ‘someone’ must think about scalability, security, and all other parameters that aren’t under the direct responsibility of the developer team or the system engineering team. This ‘technological-human interface’ was designed specifically for a DevOps team.”

By continuously monitoring the software delivery pipeline, DevOps enables organizations to detect and fix issues before they become major problems, leading to greater reliability. DevOps also promotes a culture of collaboration and continuous improvement, helping organizations to optimize their software delivery processes continuously. This results in improved efficiency, increased innovation, and greater scalability and reliability.

3. Process Automation

DevOps focuses on automating manual processes and workflows that can obstruct an organization from increasing the speed and quality of software. Consistency and risk of human error are major challenges when performing complex and repetitive tasks. DevOps overcomes these challenges by integrating tools and technologies that automate different stages of the software delivery pipeline, such as continuous integration, continuous delivery, and continuous monitoring and feedback.

Process automation enables teams to focus and deliver high-quality software by freeing time for more strategic tasks. This idea can be backed up by the thoughts from Dare Olufunmilayo, Principal DevOps Mentor at darey.io, “Without adopting DevOps, business owners and IT managers generally have little confidence in their software products. Practicing DevOps with its CI/CD concepts helps to achieve fast and quality software release. This is the main benefit DevOps brings to a business, amongst many others.”

4. Stable Operating Environments

DevOps relies on Infrastructure as Code, where provisioning of servers and software/packages can be done through well-tested code. Moreover, the code can be version-controlled and put into a source code management system (like Git). This has immense benefits as the code can be peer-reviewed, tracked and audited.

Therefore, if something created from the code malfunctions or doesn’t behave properly, anyone with access to the repository can check and find out the problem. They can also roll back to a functioning version of the system. By implementing testing and enabling organizations to deploy software with fewer errors, DevOps ensures a stable operating environment.

5. Faster, Better Product Delivery

A key client satisfaction factor is delivery punctuality. Enterprises can divide massive projects into smaller, functionally distinct components using DevOps approaches. DevOps has the benefit of enabling faster and better product delivery by promoting feedback from all facets of the software development process – stakeholders, developers and operations.

“DevOps renews focus on customers and unites teams to ship their applications faster. It forces developers to own their toolchain end-to-end to develop, deploy and operate their services. This leads to true continuous delivery and increased agility across the team. This has been a great step ahead in how teams think about code and workflow ownership,” says Luca Galante, DevOps Solutions at Humanitec.

6. Cost Reduction

By automating manual processes, streamlining workflows, and reducing lead time, DevOps enables organizations to deliver software faster and more frequently, reducing the costs associated with slow and inefficient software delivery processes.

Further, DevOps has the added benefit of lowering the cost of promotion and release by eliminating time-consuming reconfiguration for various environments. You write once and run everywhere with DevOps. The disadvantages of creating something that “only operates on one machine” are never an issue. It functions similarly in development, testing, and production thanks to creating scripts that can run in any environment.

Moreover, recruiting new team members and shifting individuals between teams are less expensive because of DevOps and automation. Building strong CI/CD pipelines encourages new engineers to have Day 1 contributions, something that was previously not even thought of.

7. Improved Communication and Collaboration

A strong DevOps team is built on the foundations of shared accountability, openness, and quick feedback. As Luca Galante adds, “DevOps was born out of the need to reunite engineering teams and prevent developers from simply ‘throwing their code over the fence’ to overwhelmed sys admins, who had to figure out then how to deploy it onto their infrastructure.”

The systems concept espoused by DevOps is frequently not followed by teams that operate in silos—knowing how your actions impact not only your team but also every other group assembled in the release process. Lack of common goals and visibility leads to poor dependence, mismatched priorities, finger-pointing, and a ‘not our fault’ attitude, slowing progress and lowering quality.

DevOps is a mentality shift that removes the silos between different disciplines in the development process. It promotes the formation of cross-functional teams, enabling teams to work together more closely and effectively and stay up-to-date with each other’s progress through regular meetings. Read our presentation of the steps to building effective DevOps teams to understand the roles involved and the overall structure they participate in.

8. Higher Team Productivity & Efficiency

DevOps advocates development and operations must be coordinated from the start. This has the benefit of helping to determine precise objectives that could guarantee coordination between development, operations, and the other parts of the organization.

It’s also critical to remember that DevOps’s goal goes beyond just getting the three groups to coordinate on a particular course of action. It actually seeks to ensure coordination between application development, IT operation, and the remainder of the company in daily business operations. As a result, it can help all three groups to create a sustained joint commitment to a set of shared objectives. This commitment has proven to speed up application development, reduce feedback delays, and enable faster application release.

9. Fast Feedback Implementation and Adopting Experimentation

DevOps relies heavily on CI/CD pipelines that automate software building, testing, and deploying. Automated processes enable organizations to detect and resolve issues quickly.

The other benefit of DevOps is that teams are better aligned to understand the issues of each of their members when they are working collaboratively. Peer reviews and testing results allow teams to receive feedback and reach issue resolution quickly.

Moreover, Continuous Improvement in DevOps emphasizes that all the organization’s stakeholders should be heard and their feedback implemented. When the processes are automated, receiving the feedback becomes easier and faster and so does the time required to implement them.

Since DevOps relies on a consistent, repeatable pattern using Infrastructure as Code and CI/CD pipelines, this helps organizations to adopt the culture of rational experimenting. Because if something goes wrong in the experiment, it is relatively straightforward to restore the service. Further, “this is what makes a team win,” says Ricardo Bejerano, Staff Site Reliability Engineer, Landbot, as “the cultural change underpinning continuous experimentation shifts how the whole organization sees risk: as a feature, not a bug.”

10. Improved Customer Satisfaction

Imagine a situation where a bug is discovered in the production environment when your customer is at a critical point in their business. Every software is subjected to errors and bugs. However, the time an organization takes to resolve the issue is what separates good software from mediocre software.

Practicing DevOps benefits organizations in that they can deliver robust software quickly, enabling faster time-to-market and improving customer satisfaction. They can also respond more rapidly to the ever-changing business environment. The DevOps model

ensures that the software is always running, well-tested, and high quality. This assures your customers and improves their satisfaction.

Authors: Smartex, T. C. Okenna
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DevOps Principles and Culture

In the rapidly evolving world of software development, DevOps has emerged as a critical methodology for ensuring efficient and reliable software delivery. But what exactly does good DevOps look like? If you're new to the concept, let's break it down by exploring the key principles, practices, and cultural elements that define an effective DevOps environment.

Key Principles of DevOps

Collaboration and Communication: DevOps is fundamentally about bridging the gap between development (Dev) and operations (Ops) teams. In a traditional setup, these teams often work in silos, leading to misunderstandings and inefficiencies. DevOps promotes a culture where these teams work together closely, fostering better communication and collaboration. This shared responsibility ensures that everyone is aligned towards common goals and outcomes.

Automation: Automation is the backbone of DevOps. By automating repetitive and error-prone tasks, teams can focus on more strategic work. Automation covers various aspects, including code integration, testing, deployment, and infrastructure management. This not only speeds up processes but also minimizes the risk of human errors.

Continuous Integration and Continuous Deployment (CI/CD): CI/CD pipelines are essential for a robust DevOps environment. Continuous Integration involves regularly merging code changes into a shared repository, followed by automated testing. Continuous Deployment takes this a step further by automatically deploying code changes to production. This practice ensures that software is always in a deployable state, leading to faster and more reliable releases.

Monitoring and Feedback Loops: Continuous monitoring of applications and infrastructure is crucial for identifying and addressing issues in real-time. Effective monitoring provides insights into system performance, user behavior, and potential bottlenecks. Feedback loops, where teams continuously learn from the monitored data, enable continuous improvement and rapid response to issues.

Cultural Elements of DevOps

Shared Responsibility: In a DevOps culture, both development and operations teams share the responsibility for the entire software lifecycle. This includes development, deployment, maintenance, and performance. A shared responsibility model encourages teams to work together towards common objectives, reducing friction and improving outcomes.

Blameless Culture: Mistakes and failures are inevitable in any software development process. A blameless culture encourages teams to focus on learning from failures rather than assigning blame. This approach fosters a safe environment where team members feel comfortable experimenting and innovating, leading to better problem-solving and continuous improvement.

Continuous Learning and Improvement: DevOps promotes a mindset of continuous learning and improvement. Teams are encouraged to regularly review their processes, tools, and practices to identify areas for enhancement. This culture of continuous improvement ensures that the DevOps practices evolve over time, keeping pace with changing requirements and technologies.

Role of Tools and Technology

Effective DevOps implementation relies heavily on the right tools and technologies. Here are some examples:

Version Control Systems: Tools like Git help manage code changes, facilitate collaboration, and maintain a history of code modifications.

CI/CD Tools: Jenkins, CircleCI, and GitLab CI/CD are popular tools for automating the integration and deployment processes.

Configuration Management: Tools like Ansible, Puppet, and Chef automate the management and configuration of infrastructure, ensuring consistency across environments.

Monitoring and Logging: Prometheus, Grafana, and ELK Stack (Elasticsearch, Logstash, Kibana) are essential for monitoring system performance and analyzing logs.

Containerization and Orchestration: Docker and Kubernetes enable the creation and management of containerized applications, providing consistency across development, testing, and production environments.

Best Practices for Successful DevOps Implementation

Start Small and Scale Gradually: Begin with a small project or team to implement DevOps practices. Learn from the experience, make necessary adjustments, and gradually scale DevOps across the organization.

Foster a Collaborative Culture: Encourage open communication and collaboration between development and operations teams. Regular meetings, joint planning sessions, and shared objectives can help build a strong collaborative culture.

Invest in Training and Education: Provide ongoing training and education for team members to keep them updated with the latest DevOps practices, tools, and technologies.

Automate Everything Possible: Identify repetitive and manual tasks that can be automated. This includes code integration, testing, deployment, and infrastructure management.

Monitor and Optimize: Continuously monitor applications and infrastructure to identify performance issues and bottlenecks. Use the insights gained to optimize processes and improve overall efficiency.

Potential Challenges in DevOps Implementation

Cultural Resistance: Shifting to a DevOps culture requires a change in mindset, which can be met with resistance. It's essential to communicate the benefits of DevOps clearly and involve all stakeholders in the transition process.

Tool Integration: Integrating various DevOps tools and technologies can be challenging. Ensure that the chosen tools are compatible and can seamlessly integrate with existing systems.

Skill Gaps: DevOps requires a diverse skill set, including knowledge of development, operations, and automation tools. Investing in training and hiring skilled professionals can help bridge the skill gaps.

Managing Complexity: As organizations scale their DevOps practices, managing the complexity of multiple tools, environments, and processes can become challenging. Regularly review and streamline processes to manage complexity effectively.

By understanding and implementing these principles, practices, and cultural elements, organizations can build a robust and effective DevOps environment. This not only enhances collaboration and efficiency but also leads to faster and more reliable software delivery. Remember, DevOps is a journey of continuous improvement and learning, so keep iterating and optimizing your practices to achieve the best results.

Authors: T. C. Okenna
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