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Tag: devops maturity

  • Carving through the hype – take the DevOps maturity assessment

    Carving through the hype – take the DevOps maturity assessment

    As anyone who spends time with their family over the holidays can attest, the notion of maturity is a highly subjective concept.

    Whether it’s sizing up the next generation’s advancement or defaulting to time-honored inter-sibling behaviors, annual get-togethers offer tangible proof of what’s new and those things that likely won’t ever change.

    In the domain of DevOps – an umbrella concept that encompasses a massive array of processes and supporting capabilities – gauging the maturity of your organization’s standing is also a highly interpretive task.

    Given that “DevOps” means something different to nearly every organization, based on its unique makeup, methodologies, tools, and most importantly, business goals, attempting to measure progress against any outside model may seem an effort of limited value.

    That said, as an increasing number of organizations seek to embrace DevOps, and growing recognition that well-worn stories of leading-edge “unicorns” don’t relate closely to most people’s real-world expectations, many teams are left wondering where their own efforts stand, especially in comparison to their peers.

    To help acquit this pursuit, and allow organizations to scope their progress, CA recently launched the second iteration of its online DevOps Assessment.

    Split into three short surveys covering core limbs of the DevOps tree – “Develop and Test”, “Release and Deploy”, and “Manage and Monitor” – this free tool offers detailed insight into how your organization’s maturity stacks up to that of other practitioners.

    For instance, in the domain of development, how well do your teams fare in defining and managing requirements, and then presenting them to others in a structured manner? Related to release cycles, are your teams truly meeting business-driven expectations for more frequent application deployments, shorter lead times, and higher success rates? Or, when it comes to applications monitoring, are you able to distinguish the most critical and recurrent problems and how they truly impact business services?

    These are perhaps some of the most fundamental questions that one could apply to measurement of DevOps adoption in general, but further investigation attempts to take a closer look at more finite, underlying issues.

    Are your development teams accurately replicating realistic conditions from production systems to create virtual services and testing scenarios? Are your application release deployments fully automated across development, test and production environments? Can your teams monitor complete business services that link user experience, transactions and applications to infrastructure to pinpoint any root cause issues?

    The best thing about the survey is that it immediately provides visibility into how your answers compare to those of previous respondents. There’s no fuzzy math or editorial interpretation (though we may highlight trends in a report at some point), merely instant validation, and the option to create a customized report card charting where your efforts stand in relation to those of your peers.

    If you’re wondering precisely just how to achieve your long-term DevOps goals comparative to where you stand today, it might even be worth leveraging some of the involved questions for the purpose of evolving process and methodology.

    The only remaining questions are: Do you think that you’re ahead of the curve? Are you afraid to find out just how far you’re behind the crowd? And most importantly, what do you have to lose?

    Take the survey today and get a real-world fix on your overall level of DevOps maturity. Guaranteed it’s a far more informative activity than debating family and friends over whose turn it is to carve the turkey, or wash the dishes.

  • Piecing Together the Elements of DevOps Transformation

    Piecing Together the Elements of DevOps Transformation

    Sometimes when a concept as transformative as DevOps comes along, it’s easy to forget that subsequent adoption represents a highly complex and iterative process.

    While it’s clear that some organizations are already deeply leveraging DevOps to embrace the Applications Economy and Digital Transformation, it’s no surprise that for many organizations this process has only just begun.

    So where have today’s organizations made the most progress, and what are the most significant challenges that practitioners continue to face?

    To get a better fix on the current state of DevOps maturity and isolate the specific areas where most organizations must continue to focus their attention, researchers at Freeform Dynamics have created a matrix of practices key to measuring progress, dubbed the “DevOps Jigsaw”.

    Drawn from the same survey data recently surfaced to profile leading-edge “Digital Disruptors” that have already wrapped their arms around DevOps advancements, this latest report, sponsored by CA Technologies, offers a crucial view into the current environment.

    It’s worth noting that of the 1000-plus respondents included in this particular data slice, the vast majority, or 80%, are categorized as “Early or Limited” adopters, with only 20% recognized as “Advanced”.

    Of the nine individual DevOps “puzzle pieces” examined in the report, experts grouped these efforts under three umbrella categories: “Key Enablers and Controls”, “Skilled and Collaborative IT”, and “A Business Led Approach”.

    Business Led Approach – This subset encompasses strategy and objectives required to tie DevOps adoption to larger business goals, including:

    • Well-defined strategy and objectives – In this key planning stage of DevOps transformation, 55% of respondents said that much of their work is “already done”, while another 36% charted it as “a work in progress”.
    • Business stakeholder education – Roughly 33% of respondents said that this informative step in DevOps adoption is complete, with a larger majority of 43% noting that they are still working to advance this process.
    • IT-business alignment of priorities – In getting stakeholders on the same page around business and DevOps direction, some 37% indicated that they are nearly done, with 43% of still attempting to embrace these efforts.

    Skilled and Collaborative IT – This genre of requirements covers the cultural and automation capabilities necessary to foster DevOps success, including:

    • Relevant IT knowledge and skills – Related to the development of DevOps expertise, 39% of respondents feel that they’ve already made the grade, with 40% conceding that they have more homework to complete.
    • Cross-functional IT processes – As much as any related initiative, DevOps mandates tighter internal collaboration, with only 35% of respondents having achieved this goal, and 45% citing the need to keep pushing.
    • Cultural harmony within IT – On a related note, DevOps teams must work together smoothly to succeed, with a mere 29% of respondents claiming such parity, offset by 46% that acknowledge a teamwork deficit. 

    Key Enablers and Controls – This category of DevOps maturity addresses key issues of technology, solutions acquisition and IT security, including:

    • Right infrastructure and tooling – Efficient tooling and infrastructure are another key DevOps enabler, with some 37% of respondents feeling good about their current solutions, and 42% still looking for answers.
    • Right suppliers and support – In sourcing the products and services required to advance DevOps process, only 33% of respondents said that they’ve found the right providers, with 46% still seeking additional help.
    • Security and compliance measures – No area of IT can be addressed without consideration of security and audit issues, with 35% of respondents comfortable with their controls, and 46% in need of added defenses.

    Given these overwhelming results, it’s clear that most organizations still have a long way to go in achieving greater DevOps maturity; at the same time, there’s also plenty of evidence that today’s practitioners have already made a good deal of progress.

    Comparing your efforts to these established “DevOps jigsaw” puzzle metrics should help inform future strategy in creating a more cohesive framework of people, process and technologies, and deliver DevOps success.