The Role of the Project Manager in Digital Transformation

Digital transformation is essential for businesses that want to grow and succeed in today’s rapidly changing environment. However, for project management leaders responsible for implementing digital initiatives, it can take time to navigate the process and bring the vision of digital transformation to fruition.

In this article, we will explore the key capabilities project managers need to possess to lead digital transformation efforts at their organizations successfully. But first, let’s discuss the importance of digital transformation.

The Netflix Story

Digital transformation has significantly impacted Netflix, which has disrupted the traditional television and movie industry by offering online streaming services. Some specific examples of how digital transformation has affected Netflix include:

1. Allowing the company to move away from a traditional business model: Before the rise of streaming, Netflix was primarily a DVD rental service. However, with the advent of digital streaming technologies, Netflix was able to pivot to a subscription-based model that allowed users to watch movies and TV shows online.

2. Enabling global expansion: Netflix’s digital platform has allowed the company to expand its reach beyond the borders of the United States and into virtually every country in the world. This would not have been possible with a traditional, physical media-based business model.

3. Driving innovation: The digital nature of Netflix’s business has enabled it to innovate and improve its services continuously. For example, Netflix has introduced features such as personalized recommendations, interactive content, and the ability to download shows for offline viewing.

4. Allowing for new content creation: The success of Netflix’s digital platform has allowed the company to invest in creating its original content, such as critically acclaimed TV shows like “Stranger Things” and “The Crown.” This has helped to differentiate Netflix from its competitors further and establish the company as a leader in the entertainment industry.

This company, which started its online streaming service in 2007, has seen tremendous growth in recent years due to the increasing popularity of digital content consumption. In Q2 2020, the company reported total revenues of over $6.14 billion, a 25% increase from the same quarter in 2019. In 2019, the company’s annual revenue was $20.15 billion. This represents impressive growth, considering that in 2011 the company’s annual revenue was just over $1.5 billion.

Throughout history, organizations that have embraced digital transformation to prioritize customer excellence have been able to thrive, regardless of changing market conditions or broader economic shifts. This has been true during different eras, including the Industrial Revolution, the Services boom, and the Information Technology age. By intentionally leveraging digital technologies and approaches, these organizations have been able to stay ahead of the curve and continue to grow and succeed.

How can Digital Transformation Help Project Managers?

Digital transformation is essential for businesses that want to grow and succeed in today’s rapidly changing environment. However, for project management leaders responsible for implementing digital initiatives, it can take time to navigate the process and bring the vision of digital transformation to fruition.

Let’s discuss the importance of digital transformation

In today’s rapidly evolving business landscape, digital transformation has become a top priority for organizations across industries. From implementing new technologies and processes to redesigning business models, digital transformation involves many initiatives requiring careful planning and execution.

As such, the role of the project manager becomes critical in driving these efforts forward. Project managers are responsible for leading and coordinating cross-functional teams to deliver projects on time and within budget. In addition, in the context of digital transformation, project managers play a key role in shaping the direction and success of these initiatives.

Who is a Digital Project Manager?

A digital project manager is a professional responsible for planning, organizing, and overseeing the execution of digital projects within an organization. The role of a digital project manager may vary depending on the specific needs and goals of the organization. Still, some common responsibilities may include the following:

◉ Developing project plans and budgets

◉ Coordinating the work of cross-functional teams

◉ Managing relationships with external vendors and partners

◉ Tracking project progress and performance

◉ Identifying and mitigating risks

◉ Communicating with stakeholders and keeping them informed of project developments

Digital project managers typically have a background in project management and a strong understanding of technology and digital tools. Depending on the focus of the projects they are managing, they may also have experience in marketing, web development, or data analysis.

What Exactly Does the Role of the Project Manager Involve in Digital Transformation?

Setting Clear Goals and Objectives

One of the primary responsibilities of the project manager is to define the scope and objectives of the digital transformation project. This includes identifying the specific business problems the project aims to solve and the desired outcomes and benefits.

Developing a Project Plan

Once the goals and objectives have been established, the project manager must create a detailed plan for achieving them. This includes identifying tasks, dependencies, and milestones; establishing a budget; and allocating resources.

Managing Risks and Issues

Digital transformation projects are complex and often involve high uncertainty. As such, the project manager must proactively identify and mitigate potential risks and issues that could impact the project’s success.

Coordinating Cross-Functional Teams

Digital transformation projects typically involve multiple teams and stakeholders, each with its priorities and objectives. The project manager must ensure that everyone is working towards a common goal and that communication is effective across the organization.

Managing Project Budget and Resources

The project manager is responsible for managing the project budget and ensuring that resources are used efficiently and effectively. This includes tracking expenses, identifying cost savings opportunities, and making necessary adjustments.

Monitoring Project Progress

The project manager must regularly monitor the progress of the digital transformation project and identify any deviations from the plan. This involves tracking key performance indicators (KPIs) and making necessary course corrections.

Digital transformation refers to incorporating digital technology into all business areas, fundamentally changing how the business operates and delivers value to its customers. Project management is the process of organizing, planning, and managing resources to bring about the successful completion of specific project goals and objectives.

Digital Transformation and Project Management

Digital transformation projects often require significant changes to business processes, organizational structures, and technology systems. As such, they can be complex and challenging to manage. Project management practices, such as those outlined in the Project Management Institute’s (PMI) Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK), can be useful in helping to plan, execute, and control digital transformation projects. Some key project management practices that are particularly relevant to digital transformation include:

◉ Defining clear project goals and objectives

◉ Developing a project plan that outlines the tasks, resources, and timeline for the project

◉ Identifying and managing project risks

◉ Communicating effectively with stakeholders

◉ Tracking and monitoring progress against the project plan

◉ Adjusting the project plan as needed to ensure the successful completion of the project

Effective project management ensures that digital transformation projects are completed on time, within budget, and with high quality.

Source: invensislearning.com

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CAS-PA: Boost Career & Impact Businesses Positively with ServiceNow Performance Analytics Certification

Earning the CAS-PA, ServiceNow Certified Application Specialist - Performance Analytics certification can give you the needed career boost and makes you eligible to benefit an organization. Explore the career benefits and learn more about the ServiceNow Performance Analytics platform and its usage.

Business scenarios have never been more complex or competitive. Data has become increasingly attainable, yet most organizations still need to learn how to derive value from it.

ServiceNow Performance Analytics allows organizations to seamlessly change to a goal-focused business culture with an easy-to-use, integrated application designed to report and analyze business performance. Performance Analytics has over 600 predefined KPIs for measuring platform operations and includes responsive and interactive dashboards, next-level drill-downs, and powerful analytics that offer insight to improve the quality of business services and processes.

What Is Proved through the CAS-PA Certification?

The CAS-PA, Certified Application Specialist – Performance Analytics exam proves that a successful candidate possesses the skills and essential knowledge to perform the implementation, configuration, and maintenance of a ServiceNow Performance Analytics solution.

Prerequisites to Take the ServiceNow CAS-PA Exam:

ServiceNow recommends completing the following pre requisite(s) in preparation for the exam.

• Performance Analytics Essentials 
• Performance Analytics Fundamentals
• Get Started with Platform Analytics in the Workspace
• Get Started with Performance Analytics KPI Details
• Formula Indicators Overview
• Performance Analytics (PA) Widgets
• Responsive Dashboards Overview
• Performance Analytics Advanced

What Is the CAS-PA Exam Structure?

ServiceNow CAS-PA Certification exam is a computer based, multiple choice exam delivered by ServiceNow testing partner Kryterion within a proctored environment. The CAS-PA exam is a 60 questions long exam, where you will get the result as a pass or fail option.

Get Your ServiceNow System Administrator CSA Certification

What Is Additional Experience Helpful to Take the CAS-PA Exam?

• The aspirant must possess six months of field experience participating in ServiceNow Performance Analytics implementation projects. 
• They must have deployed out-of-the-box content and built custom reports and Performance Analytics  objects such as KPIs, widgets, dashboards, and collection jobs.

How Does Performance Analytics Help Business Owners?

Performance Analytics helps business service owners to quickly look for trends and drive constant improvement in organizations through: 

• Real-time visibility into results and predictive forecasts for better decision-making.
• With thresholds, such as all-time highs, lows, or predefined values, that automatically generate alerts.
• Text analytics goes beyond structured data to extract trends and patterns from freeform data. fields
• Workbenches that offer end-to-end transparency across processes and timelines.

Benefits of Earning the CAS-PA Certification:

Improved Skill & Knowledge:

ServiceNow certifications allow the aspirant to utilize his full potential in using the ServiceNow platform effectively. By acquiring the CAS-PA certification, you will be able to use smoother deployments and spend less time troubleshooting and more time helping organizations effectively innovate with ServiceNow.

Many studies proved that certified ServiceNow professionals are way more productive than non-certified professionals and far more influential in their respective fields. Therefore, earn the CAS-PA certification to improve your specialist-level skills.

Prove to Employers:

After becoming the ServiceNow Certified Application Specialist - Performance Analytics (CAS-PA)expect yourself in a better position to work than your previous one. The CAS-PA proves to potential employers that you have the necessary skills to deal with the ServiceNow Performance Analytics platform.

ServiceNow certification knowledge helps you maximize platform capabilities to accomplish your goals quickly and makes your demand high in the job market. Many studies also proved that having the CAS-PA certification positively helped the aspirants improve their careers.

High Demand for ServiceNow Certified Candidates

The cross-departmental possibilities, the automation of the data, and other unique methodologies have made the ServiceNow platform preferred by major organizations. The platform helps to simplify their tasks of getting all-in-one and ensures high productivity. Hence, there is a high need for experts who can work on the ServiceNow Platform. This goes the same for the organizations that use ServiceNow Performance Analytics. Therefore, pass the CSA-PA exam and become a ServiceNow Certified Application Specialist - Performance Analytics.

There Is Scope for Better Salary:

Proper training and certification help you master ServiceNow capabilities through hands-on, real-world instruction to support you in meeting your professional goals. Many studies proved that having the ServiceNow certifications have positively impacted the salaries of aspirants.

Bottom Line:

Wrapping up, ServiceNow certifications can assure global growth. ServiceNow certifications offer the ladder to climb up the career peak in a shorter time span. No doubt, the ServiceNow certifications are meant to add value to your organization and you personally! Therefore, study hard and earn the CAS-PA certification. 

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What is Azure DevOps? – A Tutorial For Beginners

DevOps is the way of the future, and many organizations want to implement it to improve how their businesses operate. Azure is a leading cloud service provider offering a robust DevOps service set. Today, a strong digital presence defines business success, making Azure DevOps critical to driving product velocity, improving application delivery, and competing in the digital economy. In this article, we will cover everything you need to know about Azure DevOps.

What is Azure DevOps?

Azure DevOps was formerly known as Visual Studio Team Services until 2018 when the online and on-premise versions were renamed Azure DevOps. Azure is a Software as a Service (SaaS) platform from Microsoft that provides comprehensive DevOps tools for developing and deploying software. It is an excellent choice for coordinating DevOps services and integrates with most market-leading tools. As a result, many of DevOps Group’s clients have discovered that Azure DevOps meets their needs regardless of the language, platform, or cloud they use.

Azure DevOps provides integration with popular open-source and third-party tools and services and the full DevOps workflow. Use the programs and tools you are already familiar with. Spending less time integrating allows you to deliver higher-quality software faster.

One of Azure DevOps most notable features is its ability to integrate with other solutions on the market. Furthermore, it is used for collaboratively managing the entire DevOps toolchain and for shared management of the process flow. This allows the organization to make use of the tools that are already in place. Azure DevOps outperforms other technologies currently on the market due to its flexibility. It offers two possibilities.

◉ Azure Services for DevOps

◉ Azure DevOps Server

Azure DevOps Services

Azure DevOps comprises five services, which we’ll discuss in this section. All these services can be grouped under individual projects to provide users with proper isolation between projects that use different technologies and cater to different needs.

Azure Boards

It assists software developers in keeping track of and monitoring work essentials such as stories, issues, threats, bugs, and other vulnerabilities. Azure boards also find a quick solution to all problems related to work items and essentials. It helps collaboration among various teams and departments on a single project or task by improving communication skills. As a result, it is an excellent medium for monitoring project progress.

Azure Repos

Azure Repos are code repositories where users can manage their codebases. These private and cloud-based repositories support both Git and TFVC version control systems. Azure Repos can help with projects of any size, from small hobby projects to large enterprise developments.

Azure DevOps Pipelines

It is a CI/CD tool that allows for automated development, testing, and deployment. Azure DevOps pipelines are adaptable enough to handle various languages and projects. Furthermore, these pipelines test and deploy your code for any number of targets using a combination of CI and CD. There are two general approaches to using Azure DevOps pipelines:

◉ Approach 1 involves defining the pipelines with YAML ( Yet Another Markup Language) syntax 

◉ Approach 2 involves defining through a classic interface

Azure Test Plans

The Azure DevOps service Test Plans enable users to incorporate a cloud-based testing platform to manage all testing requirements, such as:

◉ Planned manual testing

◉ Exploratory testing

◉ User acceptance testing (UAT)

◉ Gathering feedback from stakeholders

Azure Test Plans permit users to create test plans and perform test cases within a pipeline. This can be merged with Azure Boards to create a test executed from the Kanban boards and to plan and authorize tests collaboratively.

Azure Artifacts 

Azure Artifacts is the final component of Azure DevOps services. It includes a library service with shareability features. As a result, developers can share and use packages from available feeds and public registries. Azure artifacts are pre-installed services on a system.

These could be Azure DevOps on the cloud or on-premises. Furthermore, users pay as they use the benefits, but the best part is that it provides free service for up to 2GB of storage. It supports various package formats, including npm, Maven, Python, and universal packages.

Azure DevOps Services Vs. Azure DevOps Server

Azure DevOps Services and Azure DevOps Server, formerly known as Visual Studio Team Services and Team Foundation Server respectively, are two distinct but related development tools. They can assist you with code planning, versioning, and even deployment. Azure DevOps Services is a cloud-based service. It is scalable, dependable, and globally accessible. Moreover, it is backed by a 99.9% SLA and is constantly monitored. 

Azure DevOps Server, the on-premises product, is built on a SQL Server backend. As a result, customers frequently choose the on-premises version when they require their data to stay within their network. Companies select this option when they require to keep their data within their network or when they want to use SQL Server reporting services. While both tools provide the same essential resources, there are some key differences to consider when determining which is best for you.

Azure DevOps Services	Azure DevOps Server
It is a cloud service	It is an on-premise service
It provides two data scaling and scoping options: organizations and projects	It provides three data scaling and scoping options: deployment, project collections, and projects
Each user must be assigned an access level	Access levels must be set based on the license
You can connect to the internet using the public network	You can access the intranet server

Lifecycle of Azure DevOps

The phases of the Azure DevOps lifecycle are as follows:

1. Write code, test, and debug – During the development stage, code for Azure applications is typically built locally on a developer’s machine. Azure Functions are new services that Microsoft has recently added to Azure Apps. Azure is a serverless computing feature that allows developers to build enterprise applications without writing code or maintaining infrastructure.

2. Two popular code collaboration tools for Deploying and Monitoring are Visual Studio Team Services and Git.

3. For continuous integration and deployment of your codebase, Azure App Service for DevOps offers the following deployment slots:

◉ OneDrive

◉ Dropbox 

◉ Local git repository

◉ GitHub

◉ Team Services in Visual Studio

If your code is open source and hosted on public GitHub, you can test and deploy it using Continuous Integration tools like Travis CI or CircleCI.

Features of Azure DevOps

Azure DevOps services provide a wealth of features for development teams. Among the Azure DevOps features are:

Dashboard Control

You can quickly navigate to different project areas, add and manage dashboards, and configure dashboard widgets using the DevOps dashboard feature.

Improved Source Control

Azure DevOps systems support two popular types of source control: distributed Git and centralized client-server Team Foundation Version Control (TFVC). To see the change history, you can add and manage Azure Git tags and review, download, and edit files.

Plan and Monitor Your Work

Some work items provided by Azure DevOps systems are used to monitor features, requirements, user stories, tasks, bugs, and more. For planning purposes, you can access several backlogs and boards that support agile methods, such as Scrum, Scrumban, or Kanban. For example, you can add and update relevant work items, manage product backlogs, plan sprints with sprint backlogs, and visualize workflow and statuses with Kanban boards.

Manual and Exploratory Testing Assistance

Workflow customization, end-to-end traceability, criteria-based selection, and real-time charts that track test activity are among the test features available in Azure DevOps.

Services for Integrated Collaboration

The feature that allows teams to collaborate across all Azure DevOps features and functions:

◉ Dashboards for teams

◉ Work items, commits, pull requests, and other artifacts that support traceability

◉ Work item forms for discussion

◉ Power BI reporting, analytic views, and analytics service

◉ Change notifications and alerts are managed per user, team, project, or organization.

◉ Capability to solicit and manage feedback

Continuous Integration and Continuous Deployment (CI/CD)

Many developers use CI/CD, and Azure DevOps makes it easy. Developers can use Azure DevOps pipelines to automate many design processes, such as defining builds and their steps, creating test instructions, and managing simultaneous releases.

Cloud-hosted Services on Azure

Azure offers cloud-hosted services to DevOps teams to help with application development and deployment. These services can be used independently or in tandem with Azure DevOps.

Benefits of Azure DevOps

Azure DevOps is becoming more popular, and businesses are considering making changes. As a result, they prioritize collaboration with development and operations to increase the use of agile business techniques.

Start-ups are using Azure DevOps services in a big way to help their businesses. But it’s important to figure out if adopting and using Azure DevOps is worth the risk. But if a company uses Azure DevOps correctly, it can get these benefits. So let’s talk about the advantages of Azure DevOps.

Catalyze Cloud Development

You can now easily focus on software development without worrying too much about pipeline construction. Azure provides end-to-end solutions for dealing with pipelines, establishing new ones, and managing current ones, accelerating the software development process.

Rapid Delivery

DevOps combines all tools and processes in the cloud, beginning with the development and testing of cloud-based applications using automated technologies, followed by deployment as soon as code is committed. Above all, this expedites delivery.

Improved Dependability and Continuous Integration

You should no longer be overly concerned with security and infrastructure management. And you can concentrate more on creating novel solutions. You can leverage the infrastructure with Azure and the CI/CD it provides. You can treat it as code using Azure Resource Manager or Terraforms. In addition, this enables you to create a duplicate that complies with compliance rules.

Improved Collaboration

The team easily collaborates with DevOps and a single, unified platform Developer and Operations share duties and feedback without becoming isolated.

Freedom of Customization

With Azure, you can utilize your chosen tool, the perfect option for your software development. This is because Azure is easily integrated with most of the market’s tools, simplifying customization and experimentation. 

Azure DevOps Certification

With the increased adoption of DevOps methodologies in industries, becoming certified to validate your DevOps skills may be just what your career requires. Azure DevOps skills are in huge demand, and qualified technical professionals may be able to take advantage of these opportunities. As a result, obtaining a DevOps certification in Azure Is critical for professional development. DevOps certifications in Azure are expert-level exams that validate subject matter professionals’ skills and expertise in working with processes and technology while incorporating people skills/abilities to deliver business value to customers.

According to Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, “95 percent of Fortune 500 companies already use Azure.”

Azure DevOps is expected to be one of the most in-demand technical skills in 2023. With so many businesses relying on Azure, there will be many Azure DevOps job opportunities for Azure-skilled cloud professionals, including certified Azure DevOps Engineers. The average Azure DevOps Engineer salary in the United States is $130,000 per year or $62.50 per hour. Entry-level salaries start at $117,292, with most experienced workers earning up to $159,259 per year.

Azure DevOps Pricing

Since many open-source tools can be integrated to give you the same functionality as Azure DevOps, it’s important to know that you can use Azure DevOps for free if your team is smaller than five or if you’re working on an open-source project. Azure DevOps pricing begins at £22.35 +VAT per month for up to 10 Users. Concurrency using the Free Hosted Build Agents is where the free tier limitation begins – but you can determine that by running your self-hosted build agents.

To summarize, Azure DevOps is an all-in-one Agile-focused plan tracking and preparation tool coupled with Developer and DevOps tools for writing, developing, and deploying code to your server estate. It has a friendly GUI and unique integrations. Getting started is very straightforward – so much so that you can run tasks and build/deploy applications almost quickly and pain-free.

Microsoft appears to be settling a lot of focus into Azure DevOps at the moment, and features are improved/added often, so there will be many beautiful things to come.

Azure DevOps Skill Requirements

Azure offers comprehensive tools that enable software development teams to use DevOps principles throughout all phases of development. To learn DevOps, prospective students require the following skills and knowledge.

Understanding Important Development Applications

Azure DevOps is a collection of tools and services that facilitate implementing DevOps processes. For mastering Azure DevOps, it is recommended that candidates master all of the major DevOps tools. Moreover, these tools include Jenkins and Docker.

Software Protection

The importance of ensuring the application’s security is equal to working on the application. If hackers gain access to any system, the network could be compromised. In conclusion, developers are responsible for writing application security code.

Technology and Automation Tools

The automation accelerates the development and deployment processes. Therefore, DevOps requires expert knowledge of automation technologies and tools.

Coding and Programming

Ruby, Python, Perl, and other coding and scripting languages are crucial for Azure DevOps engineers. Therefore, they are responsible for writing manual programs and replacing manual processes.

Cloud

The cloud provides a better location for storing all data backups. It aids in orchestrating a more effective and organized automated procedure. In addition, it expedites the development and deployment of apps.

Azure DevOps Testing provides powerful features for testing apps. However, as all reputable firms use a variety of testing methodologies, professionals must have a solid understanding of testing and its many approaches for proper application.

Azure DevOps Vs. Jira

Azure DevOps is a collection of development tools for software teams. In contrast, Jira Software Cloud assists teams of all sizes in managing work in whatever agile flavor works best for them.

Jira supports Agile methodologies such as Scrum and Kanban and allows teams to adjust workflow iterations and add more features while in progress, which Azure DevOps does not.

In contrast, Azure DevOps allows teams to see a project from beginning to end and the connections between various stages and work items. Whereas Jira does not allow teams to see previous tasks or iterations. For example, Jira users cannot see whether a completed Story is associated with a software release.

Teams can use Azure DevOps to track and view every step of the project, from ideation to deployment. Azure DevOps and Jira are both popular and useful software development tools, but your best choice will be determined by how you intend to use the tool.

Microsoft Azure: Blockchain Case Study 

Redback Technologies has always sought new ways to integrate blockchain technologies into its energy products and services. However, since blockchain technology and frameworks are extremely new, and many practices and processes haven’t been determined yet, the company had very little guidance on implementing DevOps around blockchain products. 

Microsoft Azure helped Redback implement its initial DevOps process, which allowed the developers on their team to modify their contracts and maintain a continuous integration (CI). In addition, they confirmed that there were no build errors and provided an in-memory test blockchain to run the integration tests. A truly rare and unique case study, Azure DevOps was able to find solutions for newer technologies, thereby proving its tremendous potential.

Source: invensislearning.com

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Top 10 DevOps Tools That You Must Know in 2023

Thinking beyond technical delivery is now a must for every IT company in the market. Rapid and high-quality application delivery models have become the new standard of expectation, resulting in the rapid adoption of DevOps practices, necessitating high demand in recent years for DevOps tools and service providers.

Have you ever encountered a slower and faulty application? It gets frustrating and slows us down. What’s more worrisome is the need for a remedy for this slow software. The communication channel between management processes and the execution of customer satisfaction should be smooth and error-free. Top DevOps tools help to provide relief in this hectic management environment. Businesses and manufacturers must implement the best DevOps tools to improve and increase efficiency. This article will provide a thorough understanding of DevOps tools and a detailed explanation.

The main basic question here is what DevOps Tools are. First, let us understand that.

What are DevOps Tools?

DevOps tools aid in the simplification and acceleration of testing, configuration, deployment, and other software-related tasks required to implement DevOps processes. Some DevOps tools enable detecting and resolving errors and defects at high velocity and scale. Others improve collaboration and information sharing by automating monitoring, testing, deployment, updates, and infrastructure management.

Transparency, automation, and collaboration are kept at the forefront of your value stream by using DevOps tools. For effective product output, these tools facilitate the effective sharing and exchange of information and technical know-how among all stakeholders, whether development, operations, security, or business teams. In addition, an effective DevOps toolchain can improve application quality, stability, and reliability while also assisting in identifying and resolving problems earlier in the development lifecycle. 

How Can DevOps Tools Benefit Your Business?

DevOps tools enable the effective sharing and exchanging of resources, information, and technical know-how of the tasks between development, operations, and security teams to produce high-quality products. Furthermore, these tools make it easier by introducing a new SDLC flow and addressing key aspects of your DevOps environment by automating the process chain with Build, Test, Deploy, and Release features.

Benefits of Using DevOps Tools

◉ Accelerated Development

◉ Rapid Release

◉ Improved Operational Efficiency

◉ Enhanced Collaboration

◉ Faster Recovery Time

◉ Continuous Delivery

◉ Regular Deployment

◉ Faster Rate of Innovation

◉ Seamless Flow Across Value-Chain

Best DevOps Tools

If you are looking for top 10 DevOps tools or trying to identify the best DevOps tools available in the market, you are at the right place. DevOps Tool automates processes such as identifying and resolving bugs, increasing monitor speed, overseeing update requirements, testing, and improving the overall quality of the application’s development stages. DevOps firms coordinate these tools and integrate them into one or more productive activities such as planning, creation, verification, packaging, releasing, configuring, monitoring, and version control. We’ve divided various DevOps tools into categories based on the production activities they can support.

DevOps Automation Tools

Automation is inseparable in DevOps, from code generation, Integration, and delivery to continuous testing and monitoring. In DevOps, operational teams started using automation for all their work, which gave DevOps the wings to fly so high.

DevOps Automation Tools are one of the important factors that can help you to automate and control your applications. But there are many tools available in the market, making it difficult to find  the best DevOps tools for an organization. However, these tools make tasks easier, faster, and more reliable, helping to reduce errors and save time!

Git

It’s a version control system (VCS) that allows you to keep track of changes within your file. It boosts productivity and eliminates the inefficient process of making separate files and folders for each source code version. In addition, Git helps developers easily coordinate the work among the team. If a version goes haywire, it can instantly revert to the most stable version. Microsoft, Amazon, Facebook, Accenture, etc., are some of the numerous tech companies that use Git.  

Key Features of Git:

◉ An open-source tool that is free to use

◉ Very scalable and reliable

◉ It’s easy to implement and compatible with most HTTPS, FTP, and SSH protocols

◉ Good package for developing mission-critical software

◉ Enables a faster release cycle

◉ Supports Pull Requests

◉ Secure Hash Functions (SHA1) to name and identify objects within its repository

◉ Features branch workflow

◉ Allows distributed development that continues without disruption, unlike a centralized development environment

Docker

Docker packages securely deploy and run apps regardless of the running environment. As a result, the containerization trend is quickly gaining traction in the IT industry. Furthermore, each app container includes source code, supporting files, system configuration files, run time, and all other components required for app execution. 

Docker is used daily by many multinational enterprises and businesses to increase productivity and reduce costs. For example, Docker is used by companies such as Uber, eBay, The New York Times, and PayPal to achieve their goals.

Key Features of Docker:

◉ It can be used with any language

◉ Containers can run in any environment 

◉ Capable of scaling to thousands of nodes 

◉ Update without even facing a downtime

Jenkins

Jenkins is a widely popular open-source continuous integration server. It automates the complete build cycle of software. In addition, Jenkins offers a Pipeline feature, which developers use to commit code to the repository, run test cases, and even fetch test reports. You can also use it for reporting. 

Jenkins offers a highly customizable tool offering real-time feedback. It helps in tracking bugs faster and eliminating them in the development process. In addition, Jenkins automates most tasks and tools within the entire software development lifecycle (SDLC). 

Key Features of Jenkins:

◉ Free Open-Source Tool

◉ Easy distribution

◉ Extensible using plugins

◉ Easy to install

Puppet

Puppet is a DevOps-related open-source configuration, server management, and deployment tool. It can be organized as reusable modules for quick setup and is cross-platform compatible with many platforms.

Many top companies, including Cisco, JP Morgan Chase & Co., Teradata, and others, use it. You can manage multiple teams and resources with Puppet Enterprise. It can also handle disasters intelligently. It has several modules that make it easy to connect to many other popular DevOps tools.

Key Features of Puppet:

◉ It’s based on the master-slave concept

◉ Convenient, intuitive tool 

◉ Real-time node management, reporting, etc. 

Ansible

It is an extremely simple IT automation engine. Ansible helps automate apps and infrastructure such as cloud deployments, network configuration, development environment creation, orchestration, etc. This tool does not use agents and additional custom security infrastructure; therefore, it’s easy to deploy.

Key Features of Ansible:

◉ Open-source tool

◉ Supports push configuration

◉ Features minimal commands and is user-friendly

◉ Completely agentless

◉ Easy to learn 

◉ Doesn’t hang your device because it doesn’t have features loaded like Puppet or Chef

◉ Lowers infrastructure costs and increases replication speed 

Chef

The Chef can transform infrastructure into code and is a powerful configuration management automation tool. Therefore, it configures IT and system components like networks, servers, applications, and storage. Chef also maintains security and stability with patches and bug fixes for the product’s life. Top leading companies such as Mozilla Firefox, HP, Rackspace, Walt Disney, and Expedia use Chef to handle this crucial phase of their SDLC. 

Key Features of Chef:

◉ Open-source tool

◉ Easy to integrate with cloud-based platforms

◉ Active and fast-growing community support

GitHub

GitHub is a popular tool in the collaborative space. Developers use this tool to make quick iterations of the code. While they change the source code, the notification stating this change is sent instantaneously to other team members. In case of any mishap, developers could easily roll back to the previous version within a few seconds. 

Key Features of GitHub:

◉ Easy project management

◉ Effective team management

◉ Packages and codes are secured

◉ Easy code hosting

Gradle

Gradle is a build automation tool known for its flexibility in software development. It is used to automate application development. The tool is widely used for developing software and large projects. With the assistance of build automation tools, the process becomes more consistent.

It’s well-known for its ability to create automation in languages such as Java, Scala, Android, C/C++, and Groovy. Furthermore, the tool supports groovy-based Domain Specific Language (DSL) over XML. Gradle allows you to build, test, and deploy software across multiple platforms.

Key Features of Gradle:

◉ Multi-Project Build Software

◉ High Performance

◉ Provides Support

◉ Incremental Builds

Terraform

HashiCorp’s Terraform is an open-source, self-managed infrastructure-as-code platform designed to automate cloud components. It is the industry standard and, thus, one of the most widely used tools for deploying cloud services in enterprises. Terraform makes it simple and easy to manage cloud services through the ability to codify cloud APIs into declarative configuration files. It can also deploy and provision all your infrastructure across all major cloud providers, including Google Cloud Platform, Amazon Web Services, and Microsoft Azure.

Key Features of Terraform:

◉ Infrastructure as Code

◉ Resource Graph

◉ Change Automation

◉ Execution Plans

DevOps Monitoring Tools

Continuous monitoring tools for DevOps are an essential component of the DevOps pipeline. It provides automated features that enable developers to monitor the production environment’s apps, infrastructure, and network components. Here are the top DevOps Monitoring Tools you can use for various functions.

Nagios

Nagios is a popular open-source infrastructure monitoring tool. It enables DevOps teams to monitor the network and infrastructure, assisting them in locating and resolving issues. It also allows them to keep track of events, interruptions, and failures. Major organizations like Sony, Siemens, Toshiba, and Yahoo use it to monitor and troubleshoot various issues. 

Key Features of Nagios:

◉ Automatically fix problems when detected

◉ Server performance issues are tracked and troubleshooted

◉ Aids in the planning of infrastructure upgrades before they fail due to outdated systems

Prometheus

Prometheus is another metrics-based time series database designed primarily for white-box monitoring. It is an open-source monitoring and alerting solution with a robust community-driven ecosystem. Many organizations and corporations have integrated this technology into their ecosystems since its release, allowing the user and developer communities to interact.

Key Features of Prometheus:

◉ Employs a simple query language “PromQL,” which is a “read-only” and flexible language

◉ Doesn’t rely on distributed storage; it is built to work on a single server node

◉ It can collect time-series data for your company and connect to PagerDuty

◉ Has no dependencies and provides a Web API for custom development

◉ Its default libraries and servers include Windows, Linux, MySQL, and others.

Sensu

Sensu is a popular DevOps monitoring tool that keeps track of infrastructure and applications. This platform can track and measure the safety of your infrastructure, apps, and business KPIs. It also addresses current infrastructure issues by integrating dynamic, static, and temporary infrastructure. Sensu does not offer software-as-a-service (SaaS), but you can monitor your system as you see fit.

Key Features of Sensu:

◉ It can dynamically register and de-register clients

◉ It’s ideal for streamlining operations

◉ It enables dynamic client registration and de-registration

◉ While being open-source, it has excellent commercial support

◉ It is unaffected by mission-critical applications or multi-tiered networks

PagerDuty

PagerDuty is a platform for function execution that works closely with operations professionals. The tool enables the development team to monitor app dependability and performance and to manage errors as soon as they occur.

When alarms arrive on time from the development to the production environment, the operations team can notice, triage, and handle them more quickly. PagerDuty is an excellent, user-friendly incident response and alerting system.

Key Features of PagerDuty:

◉ User-friendly alerting API has made it quite popular

◉ It is a powerful GUI (graphical user interface) tool for policy scheduling and escalation

◉ It provides an effective graphical user interface for scheduling and escalation policies.

Datical Deployment Monitoring Console

If you want to instantly monitor the status of every database deployment across the enterprise, you should look into the Datical Deployment Monitoring Console. Keeping track of all SQL script execution across all environments is a task that should be automated to reduce the possibility of human error. This is exactly what the Datical Deployment Monitoring Console does. It is also accountable for simplifying database auditing and deployment monitoring.

Key Features of Datical Deployment Monitoring Console:

◉ Database auditing has been made easier

◉ It automatically tracks deployments and failures

◉ Streamlines the release process so that both users and administrators can automatically track, audit, and resolve all deployment-specific database issues

◉ It enables on-demand access to deployment data

Tasktop Integration Hub

Tasktop lets you connect all the tools your business uses to a single piece of software, which adds value to your business. It is the one-stop solution that controls all the software delivery integration requirements without having to vouch for another tool. The Tasktop Integration Hub provides the right information to the right individual via the right tool at the right time.

Key Features of Tasktop Integration Hub:

◉ It allows for the rapid integration of new tools into existing software

◉ Connectivity is available for 45 tools, all of which are fully functional

◉ A filter can be used to route artifacts and specific field updates based on customer frequency and direction requirements

◉ It provides secure login via a web-based interface

AWS DevOps Tools

AWS DevOps offers a range of tools that help develop software in the cloud. Let’s take a closer look at some of the well-known and commonly used AWS DevOps tools.

AWS CodeStar

AWS CodeStar is a cloud-based development service that gives you the tools to build, develop, and deploy apps on AWS quickly. With AWS CodeStar, you can fix your continuous delivery toolchain in minutes. This lets you start releasing code faster. AWS CodeStar also makes it easy for your team to work together safely. It has built-in role-based policies that make it easy to manage access and add project owners, contributors, and viewers.

Each AWS CodeStar project includes a unified project dashboard and integration with Atlassian JIRA, a third-party problem-tracking and project management tool. The AWS CodeStar project dashboard makes it simple to track your entire software development process, from backlog work items to production code deployment.

Features of AWS CodeStar:

◉ CodeStar can be used to set up cloud application development

◉ It can be used to manage the user’s application through a centralized dashboard

◉ Creating new software projects on AWS in minutes using templates designed to build web applications, web services, and much more

◉ CodeStar is made up of templates designed to work in a variety of programming languages

AWS CodePipeline

AWS CodePipeline is a workflow management tool that enables users to build and manage a process for building, testing, and deploying code into a test or production environment. When any step in the process fails, the pipeline is paused, ensuring that avoidable bugs and errors are not automatically deployed into your ecosystem.

Key Features of AWS CodePipeline:

◉ The workflow of your release process is defined

◉ It can pull pipeline source code directly from AWS CodeCommit, GitHub, Amazon ECR, or Amazon S3

◉ Describes how a new code change is handled in your release process

◉ It makes use of AWS IAM to control and manage who can make changes to your release workflow

AWS CodeBuild

AWS CodeBuild is a highly managed build service that compiles source code, runs tests, and generates deployable software packages. It eliminates the need to provision, manage, and scale your build servers. Instead, CodeBuild keeps getting bigger and handles multiple builds simultaneously, so your builds never have to wait. You can begin quickly by using prepackaged build environments or creating custom-built environments that use your tools. CodeBuild charges you by the minute for the computing resources you use.

Key Features of AWS CodeBuild:

◉ Supports Linux and Windows operating systems

◉ Builds and tests your code

◉ Allows you to get up and run quickly by providing sample build specification files for common scenarios like Apache Maven, Gradle, or npm builds

◉ Displays the build’s start and end times and its status and commit ID

AWS CodeDeploy

AWS CodeDeploy is a highly managed deployment service that automates software deployments to Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (Amazon EC2), AWS Fargate, AWS Lambda, and your on-premises servers. It facilitates the rapid release of new features, avoids downtime during application deployment, and manages the complexity of updating your applications.

Key Features of AWS CodeDeploy:

◉ Uses a file and command-based install model, allowing it to deploy any application and reuse existing setup code

◉ Tracks and stores the recent history of your deployments

◉ Monitors your deployment and will stop deployment if there are many failed updates

◉ It can shift the traffic from your prior version to your new version according to your specifications

Source: invensislearning.com

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DevOps Institute Opens Upskilling IT 2023 Survey

The fifth annual upskilling survey focuses on elevating and empowering humans of IT for the jobs of today and tomorrow

DevOps Institute, a global learning community that empowers the people who power IT, today announced the launch of its fifth annual Upskilling IT community survey. The survey will collect data from thousands of IT professionals across the globe to understand which skills are essential for the future of IT. Findings from the survey will be revealed in early 2023. 

To participate in the Upskilling IT 2023 Survey, visit: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/Upskilling2023

“The Upskilling IT 2022 Report revealed that DevOps professionals who possess the skills needed for digital transformation through human and technical skills remain in high demand despite the lack of talent found throughout the industry,” said Jayne Groll, CEO of DevOps Institute. “It is clear to us now that sufficient skills in Site Reliability Engineering (SRE), DevOps, DevSecOps and other areas of IT are critical to the success of any organization. To better fulfill and modernize the needs of IT teams, companies must incorporate these skills which are shaping the tech industry. We are highly interested in seeing the next set of skills emerging and which gaps will need to be filled.”

The 2023 survey goes beyond DevOps with an enhanced focus on human and cognitive skills. Survey respondents will be asked to answer 40 questions covering a variety of themes, including IT skills challenges and gaps, future skill set requirements, IT hiring trends, upskilling and reskilling initiatives, operating models and automation tools. The Upskilling IT 2023 report, based on survey findings, will help leaders determine which future skills they should hire, retrain, and upskill for. It will also identify the biggest IT skills gaps and within which roles, as well as how organizations are upskilling. 

“Crafting an upskilling and reskilling strategy for your IT team members today to prepare for opportunities of tomorrow is the right step. However, in 2022 only 52% of organizations had a formal upskilling program and the rest either said they are working on a strategy (27%) or don’t have one,” said Eveline Oehrlich, chief research director at DevOps Institute. “Upskilling is no longer an option, but an essential part of every organization, especially IT, as it is developing talent for now and the future. A well-designed and well-used upskilling and reskilling strategy can make a difference between surviving or thriving within the global economy. This year we want to dig deep again to see what are the upskilling gaps, gems, and must-have skill domains as well as details for developing a solid upskilling and reskilling strategy in 2023.” 

The Upskilling IT 2023 survey is active through November 30, 2022. Each completed survey will be entered to win a $100 Amazon gift card. You must provide your email to be entered. Three winners will be selected each month the survey is open.  

Download a copy of the Upskilling IT 2022 report here: https://www.devopsinstitute.com/upskilling-it/

Get DevOps Certified

IT leaders are looking to hire DevOps Humans who can help advance digital transformations and fill in skills gaps. DevOps Institute is the source for accelerating the upskilling journey through certifications. IT professionals can choose to get certified in the most in-demand competencies, including DevOps Foundation, SRE, DevSecOps, VSM and more. 

Source: devopsinstitute.com

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What is PRINCE2?

PRINCE2 is a project management method that can be used for any project, from running a 1 day event to building a nuclear power plant. PRINCE2 is widely recognised (#1 project management certification) can be used in both the public and private sectors. The PRINCE2 method is in the public domain therefore it is free to use and it also offers non-proprietorial best practice guidance on project management.

Some key features of PRINCE2 are:

◉ The focus of the project is on business justification and potential long term value

◉ Defined organisation structure for the project management team so people know what is expected from them

◉ Product-based planning approach (product breakdown structure and good product descriptions)

◉ Emphasis on dividing the project into manageable and controllable stages making the project easier to plan and control

◉ And that PRINCE2 can be tailored to suit the project environment and minimise the amount of paperwork.

History of PRINCE2

The following is a timeline of PRINCE2 and its origins:

◉ mid-1970s: PROMPT Methodology created in Simpact Systems Limited (a private sector company). PROMPT stands for Project, Resource, Organization, Management, and Planning Technique.

◉ early 1980s: CCTA (Central Computer and Telecommunications Agency in the UK) licenses the PROMPT Methodology.

◉ 1989: CCTA enhances PROMPT and renames it into PRINCE. PRINCE stands for PROMPT in the CCTA Environment.

◉ 1996: The first release of PRINCE2, and its certifications

◉ 2000: CCTA was integrated into OGC (Office of Government Commerce).

◉ 2009: Latest release of PRINCE2

◉ 2013: the ownership of PRINCE2 was transformed to AXELOS

Benefits of using PRINCE2

There are numerous advantages to using PRINCE2 (like most methods):

◉ Best practice: PRINCE2 has been around more than 40 years in many thousands of projects, and it learns from these projects.

◉ PRINCE2 can be used for all kinds of projects

◉ PRINCE2 provides a structure for roles and accountability meaning that all should know what is expected of them and what they can expect from others.

◉ PRINCE2 is product-focused, meaning that products are well-defined before work begins.

◉ PRINCE2 uses Management by Exception. This allows each layer to get on with their work and only escalate if needed. More on this later.

◉ PRINCE2 assess the viability of the project from a business case from start to finish.

PRINCE2 project variables

The two most common variables to control in a project are time and cost. There are 6 variables (performance targets) to control in a project and these are: Timescales, Costs, Quality, Scope, Benefits, and Risk. Also known as: 6 aspects of project performance. Tip to remember them: Use TeCQuila SoBeR. This will give you Timescales, Costs, Quality, Scope, Benefits, and Risk. Or you can use: “BC QRST.”

◉ Time: When will the project be finished?

◉ Cost: Projects need to give a return on investment and costs need to be controlled.

◉ Quality: Are products passing their quality checks and will users be able to use the project product as expected when delivered

◉ Scope: Is the scope clear to all stakeholders? The first scope document is the PPD

◉ Benefits: Expected benefits must be known, agreed and measurable.

◉ Risk: All projects have risk, so risk needs to be managed so the project has a better chance to succeed.

Project Defintion

There are many project definitions and its best to read them all to get a better of the PRINCE2 definition.

◉ Here is one from Wikipedia: A project is a unique series of actions designed to accomplish a unique goal within specific time and cost limitations.

◉ Source internet: An individual or collaborative enterprise that is carefully planned to achieve a particular aim

◉ Another one: A project is an activity to meet the creation of a unique product or service and thus activities that are undertaken to accomplish routine activities cannot be considered projects.

PRINCE2 project definition: A project is a temporary organization that is created for the purpose of delivering one or more business products according to an agreed business case.

◉ The word organization refers to the project team (people involved in the project)

◉ The word temporary refers to the fact that each project as a definite start and end date.

◉ The business case includes: reasons for the project, expected benefits, costs and time

Source: https://prince2.wiki/

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SRE vs. DevOps: Understand the Differences Between Them

In response to the increasing complexity of application development, businesses are increasingly adopting approaches that enable robust and scalable software. DevOps and SRE (Site Reliability Engineering) are two methodologies that improve the product release cycle by enhancing communication, automating processes, and monitoring. Both approaches use automation and collaboration to assist teams in developing durable and dependable software, but there are fundamental differences in what these approaches offer and how they function. Therefore, this article will assist you in comprehending the distinctions between SRE and DevOps.

Before moving forward, we will first discuss what DevOps and SRE are. 

What is DevOps?

DevOps is a methodology for software development that focuses on automating software deployment, configuration, and maintenance. It has various applications, including software development, operations, and IT infrastructure. Adopting a software development approach that focuses on rapid iteration, iterative deployment, and continuous integration is what DevOps entails. It is an important part of open-source software development because it allows developers to adapt their code to changing requirements quickly. DevOps also assists in lowering the risk of software bugs and ensuring that software is delivered on time and within budget.

What is SRE?

Site reliability engineering (SRE) is an approach to IT operations based on software engineering. SRE teams use the software to manage systems, solve issues, and automate operations tasks. The concept of site reliability engineering is credited to Ben Treynor Sloss of the Google engineering team.

The underlying principle of SRE is that using software code to automate oversight of large software systems is a more scalable and sustainable strategy than manual intervention, particularly as those systems expand or migrate to the cloud.

SRE can also reduce or eliminate much of the natural friction between development teams that want to constantly release new or updated software into production and operations teams that don’t want to release any update or new software unless they are confident it will not cause outages or other operational problems. As a result, while SRE is not strictly required for DevOps, it is closely aligned with DevOps principles and can play a significant role in DevOps success.

How is SRE Related to DevOps?

SRE and DevOps are not opposing but complementary methodologies that can benefit from one another. Many SRE practices offer practical solutions to a wide range of DevOps issues. SRE and DevOps are not competitors in terms of methodologies. This is because SRE provides a practical solution to most DevOps concerns. Both of these approaches can be beneficial in:

◉ Eliminating organizational silos

◉ Creating an environment conducive to gradual change

◉ Taking advantage of automation tools

◉ Having more reliable and accurate measuring equipment

◉ Metrics collection

◉ Accepting failure and constantly iterating 

◉ Enhancing disaster response

SRE vs. DevOps

Attributes	SRE	DevOps
Essence	SRE was created with a specific goal: to build a set of practices and metrics that enable better collaboration and service delivery	DevOps is a collection of philosophies that promote a culture of collaboration among siloed teams
Focus	SRE’s major focus is on the system’s reliability, scalability, and availability	DevOps’s primary focus is on continuity and ease of product development
Incorporating New Features	SREs ensure those new changes don’t increase production failure rates	DevOps is responsible for implementing the latest features request to a product
Control	Software monitoring and maintenance operations are more in the hands of developers	DevOps engineer and the operations team manage maintenance and software monitoring
Automation	SRE automates redundancy	DevOps automates deployment

Can you imagine a business with no one in charge of its IT infrastructure and operations? Most likely not. This is where SRE and DevOps enter the picture. These cultures and sets of best practices have gained popularity in recent years in the IT world, and the trend appears to be far from over. But are SRE and DevOps distinct, or are they simply different names for the same thing? They are different approaches.

Both methodologies require a strict separation of the Development and Operations teams. But, to summarize, DevOps focuses on a cultural and philosophical shift, whereas SRE is more pragmatic and practical. So, let’s dig deeper into the differences between SRE and DevOps on various parameters.

Development and Implementation

DevOps is concerned with core development. SRE is about implementing the core. What does this imply? Consider it in this light. DevOps teams concentrate on core development. They are developing a product or application that will solve a problem for someone. They are using an agile software development approach, allowing them to quickly build, test, deploy, and monitor applications while maintaining quality and control.

SREs are working on the core’s implementation. They constantly provide feedback to that core development group, saying, “Hey, something you designed isn’t working exactly the way you think it is.” SRE uses operations data and software engineering to automate IT operations tasks, accelerate software delivery, and reduce IT risk.

Using Tools and Automation

Both DevOps and SRE use automation to enhance workflows and service delivery. Through flexible application programming interfaces, SRE allows teams to use the same tools and services (APIs). In addition, while DevOps encourages using automation tools, SRE ensures that all team members access the most up-to-date automation tools and technologies.

Principles of SRE and DevOps

A set of principles guides both SRE and DevOps, promoting convergence toward business goals. Some of the principles shared by SRE and DevOps are similar. The most significant difference between SRE and DevOps is that DevOps principles specify outcomes. The SRE principles describe the steps required to achieve a goal. Let’s take a look at the SRE and DevOps principles:

Principles of SRE

◉ Service Level Indicators (SLIs): These are parameters that help to assess customer satisfaction

◉ Service Level Objectives (SLOs): These are the threshold values for each SLI parameter. It aids in evaluating a product’s performance by comparing SLI values concerning a threshold value

◉ Release Engineering: It means building and deploying software in a consistent, stable, & repeatable way

◉ Eliminating Toil: It means reducing the amount of repetitive work a team must do

◉ Monitoring: It provides insight into a system, which is necessary for evaluating performance and detecting problems within a product

Principles of DevOps

◉ Incremental Releases: A DevOps lifecycle is based on incremental releases, which means that a project is divided into small chunks of work, speeding up the release cycle

◉ Automation: It is used at every stage of software development to make the process more efficient, error-free, and fast

◉ Continuous integration/continuous delivery (CI/CD): It is a process that automates the pipeline, which includes code, build, test, and deployment

◉ Continuous monitoring: It is a step that involves monitoring the performance of the software after it has been delivered to the customer and collecting useful feedback from the customer

◉ Collaboration: DevOps’s primary goal is to foster trust between developers and operations. Both teams should interact, exchange input, and collaborate throughout the development and deployment process

Accepting Failure as Normal

Both SRE and DevOps view errors and failures as unavoidable occurrences. While DevOps targets to handle runtime errors and enable teams to learn from them, SRE uses Service Level Commitments (SLx) to make sure all failures are handled.

SRE also includes a risk budget, which allows teams to experiment with failure limits for reevaluation and innovation.

Eliminate Organizational Silos

Large organizations typically have a complex organizational structure with many teams working in silos. As a result, each team pulls the product in a different direction, needs to communicate with the rest of the company, and sees the big picture as a whole. This can result in frustration, a delay in deployment, and high costs due to the delays.

The job of DevOps is to break down silos and ensure that there are no teams within teams that are not aligned with the rest of the company. Instead, they combine the teams into a single group with a common goal. SREs don’t discuss how many silos exist in the company but how to get everyone to talk about it. This is accomplished using the same tools and techniques throughout the organization, promoting shared ownership.

Bug Reporting

The DevOps team is responsible for debugging the code if a bug is discovered in the final product.

The SRE team reports bugs to the Core development team and does not participate in debugging unless there is a production outage. The SRE team is also in charge of debugging and troubleshooting infrastructure issues.

Team Structure

A DevOps team mindset differs from traditional IT or scrum teams in that it is an engineering mindset geared toward optimizing both product delivery and product value to customers throughout a product’s lifecycle. To deliver value, the team must adopt the following DASA (DevOps Agile Skills Association) qualities: Agile, self-organizing, and cross-functional team. DevOps teams include QA experts, developers, engineers, SREs, and various other roles.

SRE teams are made up of site reliability engineers with experience in operations and development. These teams work behind the scenes to make other teams’ jobs easier and faster. SREs are embedded with their developer counterparts in these SRE teams, usually one per developer team in scope. Embedded SREs typically work in the same office as developers, but the embedded arrangement can be remote.

Implementing Change Gradually

DevOps attributes the slow, gradual change to achieve continuous improvement. SRE enables teams to perform small, frequent updates that decrease the impact of changes on application availability and stability.

SRE teams also use CI/CD tools for continuous testing and change management to ensure the effective deployment of code changes.

Source: invensislearning.com

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