Wherever you are in the world, data privacy is now a major regulatory and consumer concern. The introduction of the GDPR in 2018 ushered in tough new rules for anyone dealing with the personal data of European Union citizens, while a string of cases involving either hacking or the improper use of data has led to consumers everywhere becoming more aware of how their information is used and protected ...

The way that we develop and deliver software has changed dramatically in the past 5 years — but the metrics we use to measure quality remain largely the same. Despite seismic shifts in business expectations, development methodologies, system architectures, and team structures, most organizations still rely on quality metrics that were designed for a much different era. Every other aspect of application delivery has been scrutinized and optimized as we transform our processes for DevOps. Why not put quality metrics under the microscope as well? ...

Step 9 of the Twelve-Factor App discusses disposability, which means that apps built using the twelve-factor methodology can be started or stopped at a moment's notice ...

"Shift Left" has become an ever-present meme amongst DevOps and the security folk concerned about or working with DevOps. To "shift left" means to attend to something as early in development as possible, based on the assumption of left-to-right mapping of development activities ...

DevOps thrives on automation, and it's clear why: manual processes are slow, error-prone, and inconsistent. In practice, automation rates, especially for testing, are very low, so achieving effective test automation can be challenging, but there are steps that you can take to increase test automation in your organization ...

Alongside the general emphasis in the industry on making software development safer, the growing use of more complex programming languages — notably C++ — has added to the challenge. While C++ gives developers a far more scope for creativity and innovation, its flexibility makes it easier for individuals to inadvertently create coding errors — take for example, memory leaks — that can lead to software vulnerabilities ...

Overall, C-suite executives are happy with the applications and solutions that come out of the pipeline. However, businesses are still frustrated by the speed of delivery, according to a recent study from Forrester Consulting, commissioned by Eggplant. The research identified that improving the customer experience is the number one goal for organizations when planning and orchestrating their software strategy ...