{"id":2422,"date":"2018-11-15T18:24:01","date_gmt":"2018-11-15T18:24:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ionicframework.com\/?p=2422"},"modified":"2018-12-12T22:38:03","modified_gmt":"2018-12-12T22:38:03","slug":"making-the-case-for-devops","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ionic.io\/blog\/making-the-case-for-devops","title":{"rendered":"Making the Case for DevOps"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Unless you\u2019ve been living under a rock, you\u2019ve likely heard the phrase DevOps<\/strong><\/em>. It\u2019s kind of become a squishy and often overused term, yet most people (my fellow developers included) still don\u2019t seem to know what it really means, nor the impact it can have on the business.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Since DevOps has become a passion of mine recently, I thought I\u2019d write this post to help explain what it is, and more importantly, help other developers make the business case for DevOps in their own organization. Spoiler alert: It has a less to do with the common \u201cmore frequent releases & less<\/g> bugs\u201d argument and more to do with revenue<\/strong><\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n

The Business Case<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Recently, I found myself in a meeting with our executive team where I was trying to make a case for why we needed to hire more engineers. Having a developer background, I kept making my arguments through the lens of the technical complexity of the product, the growing technical debt, and the laundry list of features we need to work on.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While all of these things were true, none of them made a compelling case as to why the business should invest more money into the product. And, in the end, that\u2019s really what I was asking for…Not developers per se, but a business investment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When making the case for DevOps within an organization, it\u2019s easy to get lost in a sea of technical facts about faster release cycles, less<\/g> bugs, and happier dev teams, but forget the basic goal of DevOps, which is to drive business results. Research shows<\/a> that companies considered to be high-performing in DevOps were 2x as likely to exceed their own goals for profitability, market share, and productivity.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

But We\u2019re Not a \u201cSoftware Company\u201d<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Hate to break it you, but yes\u2026 you are. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you\u2019ve not heard the phrase DevOps before, you\u2019ve almost certainly heard the phrase digital transformation<\/em>. Which is just a fancy way of saying that you are now a software company whether you intended to be or not. The Amazons, Ubers, and Airbnbs of the world have proven that no industry is safe from disruption. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In order to compete in an increasingly digital market, companies are going to need to adopt the same lean, agile practices and digital experiences these disruptors have prided themselves on investing in throughout the years. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

To add fuel to the fire, all these new \u201cunintentional software companies\u201d are finding themselves competing for the same prized resource: Developers. A recent study<\/a> conducted by Stripe reports that access to developers is a bigger threat to success than access to capital<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Maybe that sounds surprising to some, but it makes sense. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Why? Because good developers would rather spend time on innovation and improving a product to help their business meet its goals instead of spending as much time as they do worrying about implementing and managing multiple processes around testing, collecting feedback, release approval, cutting releases, and more. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

For this reason, it\u2019s no surprise that developers tend to gravitate towards companies who embrace true DevOps methodologies. But often, it can be a daunting challenge for businesses that are just ramping up their digital transformation efforts to understand the nuances of a good DevOps approach that will attract the right talent. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

All of this said, transforming your organization into a DevOps powerhouse doesn\u2019t happen overnight. For businesses looking to embrace this new methodology, it\u2019s important to take smaller steps first to ensure a stable foundation to scale your approach. So, let\u2019s take some time to break it down and focus on the basics to get your company well on its way to better understanding and kickstarting DevOps, internally.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

DevOps: What It Is and What It Isn\u2019t<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Let\u2019s start by understanding what DevOps is and some common misconceptions. DevOps can sometimes be confused with Continuous Integration & Continuous Delivery (CI\/CD),<\/g> when in reality, CI\/CD is just one part of DevOps. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

DevOps, at its core, is all about creating a culture of increased communication and process with better information sharing across teams and organizations. By adhering to a philosophy of transparency, agility, communication, and process it improves feedback loops so that teams can better and more easily:<\/p>\n\n\n\n