DEVOPSdigest

What is DevOps? It is one of the hottest buzzwords in IT, but many have difficulty finding a specific definition. The truth is that DevOps means different things to different people.

Since we recently launched the new site, DEVOPSdigest, one of our first challenges is to find out what the industry really thinks "DevOps" means. DEVOPSdigest asked experts from across the industry to define what DevOps means to them. The purpose of this list is not to come up with a one-sentence definition of DevOps to appeal to all. The goal is to show just how many varied ideas are connected with the concept of DevOps, and in the process learn a little more what DevOps is all about.

Some of the concept categories on the list may seem similar, but there are subtle differences. For example, everyone working as a team is different than everyone actually being on the same team, but both ideas are legitimate ways to think of DevOps.

The list of 17 Ways to Define DevOps will be posted in four parts over the next four days. The first installment provides the high level view.

1. A CULTURAL REVOLUTION

DevOps is a fundamental shift in the manner that organizations create and deliver software applications, unlocking the potential of their human expertise and supporting technologies to become more agile, optimize resources and keep pace with customer expectations. By fostering innovation and rewarding experimentation, while eliminating the limitations of traditional development and IT methodologies, a true applications lifecycle approach is realized. DevOps is a cultural revolution that liberates software delivery through cohesive collaboration and advanced automation.
Aruna Ravichandran
VP, DevOps Product and Solutions Marketing, CA Technologies(link is external)

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DevOps is an organizational and cultural rethink of how software-driven organizations can become organizations at velocity – agile enough to innovate and fast enough to deal with any change that comes their way. The more fundamental story is the organizational and cultural transformation necessary to take full advantage of modern tech. Business at velocity depends upon such transformation.
Jason Bloomberg
President, Intellyx(link is external)

DevOps: A Cultural Rethink

DevOps is about pursuing the implementation of technologies, processes and organizational styles and cultures that fit your business needs and don’t merely just conform to the conventional wisdom. DevOps gives us a direction but we own the roadmap to get there which may be different from every other IT organization. That’s what makes it simultaneously a challenge but also invigorating at the same time in that we, the people of IT – each one of us, now have the intellectual freedom to challenge the status quo.
Cameron Haight
Research VP, IT Operations, Gartner(link is external)

2. IT EVOLUTION

DevOps is the evolution of traditional application development and operations roles driven by consumerization of all software and business demand for agility. DevOps facilitates the needs of today's businesses to stay relevant by constantly innovating through software.
Chris Boorman
CMO, Automic Software(link is external)

3. A CULTURE OF COLLABORATION

DevOps is the ability to be able to release new applications or updates at a speed expected by your customers, while maintaining quality. This requires collaboration between business, IT development and operations professionals.
John Rakowski
Director of Technology Strategy, AppDynamics(link is external)

The primary purpose of DevOps is to create an environment of communication, collaboration and trust among and between IT teams and application owners. We call this application governance. Higher-quality code implemented faster also enables ROI and risk management objectives.
Gabe Lowy
Technology Analyst and Founder of Tech-Tonics Advisors(link is external)

DevOps is a state of mind. It thrives in a culture where development and operations teams unite to draw from each other’s experiences, perspectives and concerns in order to continuously improve processes that help build and deliver resilient products rapidly into the hands of delighted customers, and as result deliver measurable business impact.
Krishnan Badrinarayanan
Sr. Product Marketing Manager, Riverbed(link is external)

DevOps describes an IT culture where collaboration between developers and operations is encouraged across the application lifecycle, from conception to production. Silos between departments and organizations are broken down and different skillsets are brought together, increasing communication and improving efficiency and automation.
Dennis Callaghan
Director of Industry Innovation, Catchpoint(link is external)

DevOps is the culmination of a decade of Agile, CI and CD combined with a culture of Dev, QA and Ops teams working side by side, and not separately, throughout and in full support of a rapid release process.
Kevin Surace
CEO, Appvance(link is external)

Check back tomorrow for Part 2 of the list, covering how Dev and Ops work together.

17 Ways to Define DevOps - Part 2