Companies strive to achieve the best products in the least amount of time.
This competition has led to the creation of various methodologies and practices.
In this article, we'll focus on the two main approaches to Software Development.
These are DevOps and Agile Methodologies.
We'll begin by looking into DevOps culture and what makes it essential.
After that, we'll examine the Agile iterative approach and its key concepts and benefits.
What is DevOps
Development and Operations, for short DevOps, is a combination of practices developed in 2008.
Its creators, Patrick Debois and Andrew Clay, wanted to connect Software Development and IT operations.
With it, companies can deliver superior products with fewer roadblocks by fostering collaboration between teams.
The concepts of Continuous Integration and Continuous Deployment are key within DevOps.
CI/CD means teams are constantly building, testing and updating changes in the deployment process.
How Does DevOps Work
The concept behind DevOps combines development and operations in a single team.
This methodology encourages Software Development team members to work on cross-functional skills.
The DevOps process typically involves four main stages:
- DevOps Planning. Teams describe and define features, as well as organizing and scheduling tasks.
- DevOps Developing. Members write, test, review and deploy code into production and delivery processes.
- DevOps Delivering. Once the software is developed, it's deployed into environments like release management and deployment automation.
- DevOps Operating. When the software is in use, there's monitoring, maintenance and troubleshooting, crucial for software to perform optimally.
DevOps environments create a culture of collaboration, communication and continuous improvement by combining teams.
This methodology encourages cross-functional skills and shared ownership of the entire Software Development Lifecycle.
The result is a faster, more reliable, and more efficient Software Development process.
What is DevSecOps
DevSecOps integrates security testing and protection into the DevOps model.
The conventional security model checks and corrects security defects before software release.
However, DevSecOps incorporates security measures for faster delivery and building secure code simultaneously.
Why is DevOps Important
In the past, DevOps teams used to work in separate lanes.
In consequence, this process led to blind spots in implementation.
If code gets kicked back and forth, there's usually no clear responsible party or course of action.
Also, this can contribute to various issues and delays.
Yet, when both teams work together, results are not only superior.
With collaboration throughout a whole life cycle, there are also fewer roadblocks.
Nowadays, new software launches faster and faster.
As a result, smooth and efficient processes are crucial to success.
Further, DevOps has many other benefits.
These include accelerated innovation, improved collaboration, reliability, security, and scalability.
What is Agile Methodology
Agile is a Project Management and Software Development methodology.
It's often used for cross-functional teams and focused on iterative development.
As a result, Agile teams deliver work in small increments to deliver code to production.
For example, they work in sprints or iterations, including continuous development and testing.
This style might ring a bell from DevOps, which focuses on frequent releases to improve and deliver the product.
This method involves close collaboration between developers and stakeholders.
Also, it offers regular deliveries, frequent inspections, self-organization, considers customer feedback, and great adaptability to change.
Techs and trends are constantly shifting and evolving.
That's why adaptability is essential in the development industry.
Also, it's part of why Agile Software Development processes are continually gaining popularity.
What is the Agile Manifesto
The Agile Manifesto identifies the values and principles of this methodology.
It declares the four value focuses they highlighted through working with this approach of incremental deployments.
In all these focuses, they present a hierarchy of priorities to handle an Agile approach.
Here, individuals and interactions are over processes and tools, and working software is over comprehensive documentation.
Likewise, collaboration with customers is over contract negotiation, and answering to change is over following a plan.
The Agile Manifesto, written by seventeen professionals in 2001, outlines twelve principle .
These emphasize simplicity, sustainability, and maintaining a consistent pace among sponsors devs, and users.
Adaptability to changes, even late in development, is also crucial.
The delivery should occur frequently, from a couple of weeks to a few months, depending on continuous delivery.
The primary goal of the Agile Manifesto is working software, which serves as its measurement of results.
What is Scrum in Agile
Scrum is an Agile Framework focused on delivering value in the least amount of time.
Work gets organized through sprint planning, which tends to last around two weeks.
Each sprint's ultimate goal is to reach within the specified time.
Scrum is ideal for cross-functional teams.
Also, it works best on projects divided into clearly defined increments until the needed product quality is reached.
If you want to learn more about Scrum, you can do so here.
Why use Agile Methodology
The advantages of Agile methods are plentiful.
Yet, there are some main reasons why companies choose it.
These include increasing performance, improving satisfaction, adaptability, and continuous testing.
And, as we've seen, adaptability is essential in the dev industry.
Also, Agile practices make it easier for teams to tackle changes during processes.
As a result, this ensures that final products meet specific needs, even if it's a complex project.
Other core values include rapid release, predictable costs, higher-quality standards, and project transparency.
Agile Methodology vs DevOps
As you might have noticed, Agile and DevOps approaches are similar tactical frameworks.
They both have a common goal: getting high-quality products as quickly as possible.
But what sets them apart? Let's go over some of their differences.
DevOps and Agile principles can also work together like their different hybrid models.
Teams mix the best of both to deliver faster products while having user needs at the forefront.
Yet, given cultural philosophy shifts, their implementation should be well thought out until becoming common practice.
These methods apply mainly to larger companies.
Conclusion
DevOps and Agile are two excellent models to approach technical practices.
Both are available to break down the barriers between development teams to work more efficiently and achieve better software products.
Moreover, your choice will rely on composition and requirements.
In some cases, combining the two might be the correct answer for your high-quality software development cycle.
We hope we've given you a comprehensive approach to DevOps methodology and Agile development.
Also, we expect to encourage you to look into these development strategies further to boost collaboration between developers!
