DEVOPSdigest

The Holiday Season means it is time for DEVOPSdigest's annual list of DevOps predictions. Industry experts — from analysts and consultants to the top vendors — offer thoughtful, insightful, and often controversial predictions on how DevOps and related technologies will evolve and impact development and the business in 2024.

Throughout the year, DEVOPSdigest covers a variety of technologies and subjects, and this year's predictions list offers an equally broad scope of topics. In addition to DevOps in general, topics covered this week in Parts 1-4 include development, microservices, containers, APIs, platform engineering and testing. Next week, Parts 5-8 will be devoted to the impact of AI on DevOps and development.

Some of these predictions may come true in the next 12 months, while others may be just as valid but take several years to be realized. Still others may be wishful thinking or unbased fears. Some predictions even directly contradict each other. But taken collectively, this list of predictions offers a timely and detailed snapshot of what the IT industry and the DevOps market are thinking about, planning, expecting and hoping for 2024.

The predictions will be posted in 8 parts over the next two weeks, with separate lists of predictions for Low Code/No Code and DevSecOps to follow after the holidays. Meanwhile, APMdigest is posting a series of APM predictions for 2024(link is external), covering Application Performance Management (APM), Observability, OpenTelemetry, AIOps, End-User Experience, NetOps and Network Performance Management (NPM). In addition, separate lists for Cloud, DataOps and GenAI will follow after the holidays on APMdigest.

A forecast by top DevOps experts, here are the predictions:

2024: PIVOTAL YEAR FOR DEVOPS

In 2024, DevOps will undergo a profound transformation. Automation will surge to unprecedented levels, revolutionizing development workflows and expediting deployment cycles. Continuous Integration and Continuous Delivery (CI/CD) pipelines will reach new heights of efficiency, enabling rapid and dependable software releases. DevOps will be synonymous with agility, allowing teams to respond swiftly to changing demands. The emphasis on collaboration, communication, and seamless integration between development and operations will continue to be the bedrock of successful software delivery. Expect 2024 to be a pivotal year in the DevOps journey, where organizations will harness their full potential to drive innovation and efficiency in software development.
Ramendeep Bhurjee
VP, Cigniti Technologies(link is external)

BIZDEVOPS REDEFINES SOFTWARE

BizDevOps is set to redefine how businesses approach software development and operations in 2024. Integrating business stakeholders into the development process will reach new maturity levels. Continuous feedback loops between business, development, and operations teams will become standard practice, ensuring that software aligns seamlessly with organizational goals. Automation will be further fine-tuned, enabling swift adaptation to changing market dynamics. The emergence of advanced analytics in BizDevOps will provide valuable insights into customer behavior, enabling teams to make data-driven decisions that directly impact product development. Expect 2024 to be a year of unprecedented collaboration, where business strategy and technical execution converge to drive innovation and deliver customer value at an accelerated pace. This symbiotic relationship between business and technology will be the cornerstone of successful software-driven enterprises.
Raghu Krovvidy
Chief Delivery Officer, Cigniti Technologies(link is external)

DEVOPS AND AGILE CONVERGE

DevOps and Agile practices will converge to improve software development. We will see the convergence of DevOps and Agile practices, aiming to break down silos and improve collaboration for faster, higher-quality software development. Tools facilitating continuous integration and delivery will be crucial in this integrated approach, streamlining the path from development to deployment, with the goal of delivering tangible value at every step of the way.
Paul Lechner
VP of Product Management, Appfire(link is external)

Faster development life cycles will continue

In 2024, the march towards faster development life cycles to keep pace with demand will continue. As developers and organizations push new applications into production faster, organizations must ensure that security practices happen in real time in the CI/CD pipeline as software engineers are developing source code.
Dan Hopkins
VP of Engineering, StackHawk(link is external)

AGILE DEVELOPMENT SHAPES THE FUTURE

In development, agile practice will continue to shape the future of innovation by incorporating innovative technologies and methodologies. AI and automation have become indispensable companions, amplifying productivity and effectiveness — it is a trend that is set to stay. It is predicted that in 2024, the adoption of Scaled Agile Frameworks like SAFe will continue to be an important facet of agile development. Agile metrics and data analytics saw a great deal of progress and improvement this year and will continue to do so in the year ahead. As agile development continues to grow, the union of Design Thinking and Business Agility will reduce risk and expedite development — ensuring a brighter future.
Nitin Garg
VP of Practice Delivery, AgreeYa Solutions(link is external)

FOSTERING A HUMAN-CENTRIC AGILE MINDSET

I think we will see more companies in 2024 realize agile transformation must be holistic, involving shorter cycles and business side changes beyond just software. While many companies "talk the talk" on agile, truly enabling autonomy and cross-functional collaboration still needs to be improved. The future requires learning processes and empowering people, not just using agile as a buzzword. After some high-profile failures, more organizations are realizing agile's core is people, not just tools or processes. At some point, the revolutionary zeal of early agile faded into a search for silver bullets and easy ways out. Scrum, Kanban, and credentials eclipsed the human side. Now, leaders know succeeding requires committing to the harder, human-centric work of giving people a why. Reinvigorating this mindset is key to being successful with agile in the year ahead.
Tina Behers
VP of Enterprise Agility, Aligned Agility(link is external)

As I've traveled and worked in developing countries, I'm seeing more situations that remind me of the early days of the Agile Manifesto, which was released just over 20 years ago. My hope is that we can replicate this across the board in the year ahead to make agility blossom again. A return to the agile mindset and the principles of the manifesto, not the professionalization and credentialization we have gotten used to. Agile development must stay personal and not become compliance-driven. The heart of agile development is individuals taking ownership while avoiding fads and shortcuts.
Jon Kern
Agile Consultant, Adaptavist(link is external)

MOVING FROM TRACKING DEVELOPER PRODUCTIVITY TO ENGINEERING EFFICIENCY

Leaders will move from tracking developer productivity to engineering efficiency. Measurement will move from individual metrics around developer productivity to team-centered metrics around engineering efficiency in 2024. You can't improve an entire function's performance by measuring individual practices because the data simply isn't clean, it will be gamed, and will achieve the opposite goal of improving. Engineering leaders will begin to realize that in the coming year. We'll see engineering leaders move to a focus on the friction in their processes rather than individual output for performance tracking.
Ori Keren
Co-Founder and CEO, LinearB(link is external)

COLLABORATION – THE FUTURE OF DEVOPS

In the era of multi-cloud architectures and the reliance on diverse vendors for business applications, the future of DevOps lies in strengthened collaboration. DevOps professionals are set to forge stronger partnerships with traditionally siloed teams, such as Network Security and Security Operation Centers. This collaboration aims to streamline communication and workflow by leveraging automation to engage seamlessly at critical junctions. The emphasis on automation is pivotal, with DevOps driving efforts to embed security seamlessly throughout the development and operational processes. As the technological landscape becomes increasingly interconnected and complex, this collaborative and automated approach within the DevOps framework not only ensures more efficient application delivery but also reinforces the integration of security measures, fortifying organizations against evolving cyber threats in a rapidly changing digital landscape.
Erez Tadmor
Cybersecurity Evangelist, Tufin(link is external)

Tech teams continue to deal with the impacts of 2023 layoffs across the industry, meaning that more important skill sets for teams are collaboration and reflective processes. These also take skill: developers who cultivate a strong learning practice together and are able to support each other will thrive more in this time of change.
Dr. Cat Hicks
VP of Research Insights, Developer/Flow, Pluralsight(link is external)

RECOGNITION OF 99% DEVELOPERS

Businesses across all industries will realize the foundation to software development is built upon the "99% Developers." These are the vast majority of developers who are getting work done outside of the hip companies and frameworks, who often get neglected in conversations about "what developers want." There's a huge gap between what "developer influencers" are talking about, and the daily reality of most developers. It matters to talk about the 99% Developers because these are the developers building the software that powers our lives — insurance, health care, retail, and banking, to name a few. It's not only small companies that can't easily adopt the processes of modern, tech-first companies; it's most companies that were not built around technology and that have decades of embedded legacy software. The most astute tech leaders will see that recognizing the needs of their 99% Developers are the key to continued business success.
Jean Yang
Head of Product, Observability, Postman(link is external)

DEBUGGING REMAINS A CHALLENGE

Debugging will continue to be the cruel joke we play on ourselves as the complexity of our systems further outstrips our tools. Engineers will yearn for tools that can turn data into information, so that they can turn information into solutions. Even the best-instrumented system is agony if the signals cannot be synthesized into something useful.
Lance Erickson
Head of Engineering, Scout APM(link is external)

Go to: 2024 DevOps Predictions - Part 2, covering application development.