Paul Swartout

DevOps – what is it and why is it valuable to business?

Who am I?

• Husband, Father, dog owner, software development manager and author of 'Continuous delivery and DevOps: A quickstart guide"

• Over 20 years experience in IT - development, operations and management

• Passionate about delivering quality software solutions

Why DevOps

Agile Manifesto (2001)

We are uncovering better ways of developing software by doing it and helping others do it. Through this work we have come to value:

Individuals and interactions over processes and toolsWorking software over comprehensive documentationCustomer collaboration over contract negotiationResponding to change over following a plan

That is, while there is value in the items on the right, we value the items on the left more.

Agile software development

• Highly visible• Allows for greater adaptability• Realise business value quickly• Reduces risk• Incremental and iterative delivery

Continuous Delivery

Source: Jez Humble, http://www.informit.com/articles/article.aspx?p=1641923&seqNum=3

Allspaw & Hammond – deliver 10 times per day at flickr

http://www.slideshare.net/jallspaw/10-deploys-per-day-dev-and-ops-cooperation-at-flickr

The DevOps movement

http://devopsdays.org/events/2009-ghent/

http://www.anthonyburrill.com/purchase/i-like-it

http://www.stimulbrain.com/how-can-creative-thinking-help-me-solve-problems/

http://www.jillkonrath.com

http://www.flickr.com/photos/ratcake/3159815371/

Did it work?

• 2010• Over 200 people involved in a

given release• Live downtime required to release

software• Release issues cause additional

downtime

• 2013• One engineer needed to release

to production (takes ~30 mins)• Down-time is a distant memory• Release related incidents are

unheard of - rollback is easy if one found

Key business benefits?

• We now focus our energies on building new features - not trying to deliver them

• We now have a greater understanding of our platform• We work together with aligned vision and goals• “Us” and “then” all but eradicated

Some pointers, pitfalls and gotchas

• DevOps is not a silver bullet• DevOps can help if you have a problem to solve• Tooling (especially automation and CD tools) will help but is not the be all

and end all• It's not an easy thing to implement and takes time, dedication, effort and

patience• Some people may not want / be able to work this way• Ensure you can measure progress and keep measuring - inspect and adapt• Get actively involved in the wider community, do some research and

reading

WEB: www.swartout.co.ukEMAIL: paul@swartout.co.ukTWITTER: @pswartout