What in the World is DevOps: The Mecca Minute

In one of my business networks, a C-level exec asked me “what the hell is this DEVOPS thing.” Being from IT I was forced to answer the question in a way that didn’t cause him to glaze over, and I think I did OK.

DevOps, for this type audience, is better described in business terms verses all the techno-babbling to impress my buddies. For techs I recommend DevOps for the Modern Enterprise by Mirco Herring. What DevOps really means to your business is, it removes the mystery of the recluse coding efforts that take forever, have huge costs and you no idea of what is really going on. DevOps forces collaboration among planners, coders, testers to name a few and promotes continuous improvement and financial and functional transparency.

The business sees exactly what it is getting, in frequent valuable chunks, supported by great testing and governance. And, if done right, the product gets better and better overtime. I’m sure someone else is gonna listen to this and go that’s not what DevOps is. But the net of it is, businesses don’t give a crap about all the technical jargon. DevOps is really for a business that needs to have the capability managing large development projects using complimentary methods like AGILE. It is a discipline that is a long time coming, is desperately needed by organizations who are constantly getting buggy, monolithic messes because and they don’t have the mechanisms in place to collaborate and keep everyone accountable.

If you’re looking for a technical explanation of DevOps, Get the book. But if you are wondering whether or not your business would be better off with a DevOps working model, rest assured, they would be. But like all change you must be in for the long term and it’s a journey…worth taking. I’m Gerry Mecca and this has been the Mecca Minute.