- Improved collaboration within and between teams
- Faster time to market
- Reduced technical debt and the possibility of human error
- More stable and resilient applications, usually followed by reduced time to recover in case of disaster, and
- Higher quality
Organizations that do not utilize DevOps practices are often exposed to various challenges, including a lack of collaboration and communication, complex systems and infrastructure that become too expensive and difficult to maintain, a shortage of skills and knowledge, inadequate management, and, frequently, security issues. By implementing DevOps, you get a better chance of overcoming such challenges, so you can have more time and the possibility to focus on development and the quality of your product.
So, if DevOps is so good, why isn’t everyone using it?
It is noticeable that DevOps is rapidly expanding in the market, and more organizations see the benefits of using it. However, there are multiple reasons why some companies are still refusing to implement DevOps. Most often, the reasons are:
- Change is hard – it is not easy to adopt a new methodology and way of working
- Fear of failure – DevOps encourages constant experimenting and researching, which can be quite risky for teams
- Skill gaps – DevOps requires a wide set of knowledge to be implemented, including automation, cloud, business, and scripting
- Time and resource constraints – DevOps adoption takes time: time to train, time to experiment, time to fail, and time to learn
- Organizational silos – DevOps thrives on shared responsibility, which is hard to achieve in such environments
Additionally, many organizations that are not using DevOps practices often point to the cost of DevOps tools. However, industry practices suggest otherwise. When avoiding DevOps, infrastructure and systems may become too complex and hard to maintain, which requires significantly more “engineering hours” in the future if the solution needs to expand or be properly maintained.
Furthermore, DevOps practices support improvements in security, which can prevent costly security leaks and strengthen overall resilience.
How to start with DevOps?
Here are some tips to start introducing DevOps to your teams:
- Invest in training – One of the best ways to ensure a successful DevOps transformation is to invest in training. It’s not just about teaching tools and how to use them, but about reshaping mindsets and showing teams the benefits of DevOps. It is important to present to teams and stakeholders the crucial “why” behind DevOps, as well as the importance of good collaboration, automation, and continuous improvement.
- Develop a culture of collaboration and shared responsibility – This can be achieved by creating cross-functional teams that work together toward common goals. This approach encourages open communication and breaks down silos between teams, which is the foundation of any successful DevOps implementation. To achieve this, it is crucial to clearly communicate changes so that all team members understand their roles and responsibilities.
- Adopt Agile practices – Agile practices focus on iterative development, rapid feedback, and collaboration throughout all stages of the software lifecycle. This involves dividing work into iterations, or “Sprints.” Boards and backlogs are useful for organizing this work, and tools such as Jira, Azure DevOps Boards, Trello, and GitHub Boards can support this implementation. Agile practices also introduce recurring meetings such as daily standups, backlog refinements, and retrospectives, where team members stay informed about progress and take part in future planning.
- Introduce Continuous Integration/Continuous Deployment (CI/CD) – CI/CD is critical to any DevOps plan.
- Continuous Integration (CI): Developers frequently merge code changes into a shared repository, triggering automated builds and tests to catch errors early. This helps detect bugs quickly, provides faster feedback loops, improves code quality, and simplifies collaboration.
- Continuous Deployment (CD): Code changes that pass automated tests are automatically deployed to production without manual intervention. The pros include faster time to market, reduced deployment risk, and consistent environments, resulting in happier users who receive frequent updates. Popular CI/CD tools include GitHub Actions, Azure DevOps Pipelines, Jenkins, and GitLab CI/CD.
- Integrate DevSecOps – DevSecOps integrates security into every stage of development, helping teams catch vulnerabilities early. This reduces technical debt and avoids higher complexity and costs later in production.
- Introduce Infrastructure as Code (IaC) – IaC is the practice of managing and provisioning computing infrastructure (servers, networks, databases, virtual machines, etc.) through code.
- Enable Continuous Monitoring – Continuous monitoring automatically tracks systems, applications, and infrastructure in real time to detect issues, ensure compliance, and improve reliability. It’s a key pillar of DevSecOps, helping teams respond quickly to anomalies and threats.
Final thoughts
DevOps isn’t a destination—it’s a continuous improvement loop. For teams just starting out, the key is to begin small, learn fast, and iterate often. With the right mindset and a few strategic changes, you’ll be well on your way to building faster, smarter, and more resilient software.
What do we do within the field?
We provide comprehensive DevOps services, including SDLC setup, automation, and cloud solutions on Azure and AWS. Our offerings also include providing training to empower teams with the skills to streamline development and deployment processes that will be streamlined with DevOps best practices.