DevOps is a cultural approach and a mindset. DevOps is not a framework; it doesn’t have a manifesto like Agile or an official set of rules like Scrum. Still, to be implemented successfully, it requires at least a consensus around guidelines.
Like a North Star, at Pentalog, we particularly like the proposition provided in “The DevOps Handbook”, written by Gene Kim: “IT system is faster, safer and easier to change”.
As DevOps grew into what is now called the new “normal” when it comes to software development, experts have also made several attempts to provide generic guidelines. The most famous and largely accepted definition of the DevOps foundations is probably the CAMS Pillars.
CAMS is an acronym for:
Culture
Culture is essential for the success of a DevOps team. Its basis is collaboration, meaning that everyone involved in the project works together and uses a standard set of values, tools, and workflows. They share a common goal and have a plan to achieve it together.
Encouraging cross-collaboration between different teams and allowing them to stay up-to-date with each other’s projects, ideas, and challenges is the best way to ensure efficiency when it comes to management or troubleshooting.
Automation
Reducing repetitive manual work is critical in the DevOps methodology, which promotes automation throughout the digital lifecycle. Automation not only helps to create safer and faster releases but also supports the other DevOps principles. For instance, automation is done through scripting, which promotes visibility, thus culture and sharing among teams.
Measurement
Based on Lean and Agile, DevOps practices promote continuous improvement and the ability to anticipate defects, allowing teams to constantly learn in order to optimize the product and improve work quality.
With the help of the latest technologies, teams are implementing continuous monitoring to ensure a safe and reliable system, detecting and ideally fixing errors before they even occur.
Measuring performance provides valuable data for your teams, allowing them to make the best decisions based on quantifiable information. Meanwhile, testing enables the anticipation of issues and the assessment of an upgrade before release.
Sharing
Sharing is the foundation of DevOps, allowing the existence of culture, automation, and measurement. This groundbreaking shift in mindset means that teams share their knowledge, tools, flows, information, and objectives, allowing them to create better digital products more quickly. Shared ownership is promoted, as it improves the capacity of the team to architect, produce, and fix the solution they are in charge of.