Understanding how DevOps aligns development and operations

ABSTRACT

A top priority of organisations around the globe is to achieve IT-business alignment at all levels of the organisation. This paper addresses operational alignment within IT functions. Traditionally, IT functions are divided into highly independent subunits. In the face of pressure to adapt to rapidly changing customer demands and to manage increasingly complex IT architectures, many organisations have begun implementing joint, cross-functional DevOps teams, which integrate tasks, knowledge and skills pertaining to planning, building, and running software product activities. In this study, we examine eight cases of DevOps implementation. We apply grounded theory to identify three mechanisms comprising a tripartite model of intra-IT alignment: individual componentization, integrated responsibility, and multidisciplinary knowledge. Our model provides insights into how alignment between development and operations can be achieved in DevOps teams within the IT function.

1. Introduction

IT-business alignment remains a key concern among information technology (IT) executives (Gerow et al., Citation2014; Reynolds & Yetton, Citation2015). Traditionally, information systems (IS) functions are divided into separate subunits, including software development and software operations (Hemon et al., Citation2018). This organisational structure hinders cross-functional collaboration and alignment across different subunits within the IT function (Constantinides & Barrett, Citation2014; Gregory et al., Citation2018; Swanson & Beath, Citation1989). As demands on the IS function have grown, closer cooperation between the IT subunits development and operations has proven essential to achieve agility and alignment throughout the complete software delivery lifecycle (Krancher et al., Citation2018).

Establishing consistency between such organisational functions to realise the full potential of information systems has been the primary focus of alignment research (Gerow et al., Citation2014). Much prior alignment research concentrates on the four components business strategy, IT strategy, business infrastructure and processes, and IT infrastructure and processes, focused mainly on the strategic link between business and IT (Gerow et al., Citation2014; Reynolds & Yetton, Citation2015). On the operational level, alignment between the IT subunits, which we refer to as intra-IT alignment, is equally important, since misaligned IT subunits can adversely affect overall cohesion within the IT functions and negatively impact the goals of business and IT (Onita & Dhaliwal, Citation2011; Wagner et al., Citation2014).

Recent alignment literature has identified several dimensions of misalignment in the IT function. First, as development cycles grow shorter, the development prioritises providing new software features quickly, while operations prioritises ensuring stable running systems with as few changes as possible (Edberg et al., Citation2012; Fitzgerald & Stol, Citation2017). If success is measured and standards are defined follow solely the speed logic or solely the stability logic, misalignment is likely. Second, the different goals of development and operations make it challenging to combining knowledge, communicate clearly, and deliver the best possible IT services to the organisation and its customers (Krancher et al., Citation2018). Little research has addressed how such intra-IT misalignment can be best resolved.

On the operational level, research has examined alignment between software development and user requirements (Ramesh et al., Citation2010). For instance, agile software development methods align developers and users by enhancing collaboration among them (Hemon et al., Citation2018; Maruping & Matook, Citationforthcoming). However, these concepts do not focus on software operations, leaving traditional separation of development and operations IT subunits and intra-IT misalignment unresolved (Dhaliwal et al., Citation2011; Hemon et al., Citation2018). In order to understand the process of aligning internal IT development and operation subunits, this paper seeks to answer the following research question: What are the mechanisms by which development and operations IT subunits achieve intra-IT alignment?

To answer our research question, we study DevOps, a phenomenon that has gained importance in practice over the last years (Forsgren et al., Citation2018). The DevOps method integrates the tasks, knowledge and skills pertaining to planning, building, and running software product activities in a joint cross-functional team within the IT function (Wiedemann, Forsgren et al., Citation2019). We used an exploratory, multiple case study design based on 26 interviews with DevOps experts. These DevOps teams jointly plan, develop and operate IT software and architecture solutions using an integrated software delivery lifecycle and thereby bridging development and operations (Fitzgerald & Stol, Citation2017). We find that DevOps integrates the advantages of agile software development to react quickly to customer demands but also broadens agility to operations such as software architecture, responsibilities and knowledge (Hemon et al., Citation2018). We develop a grounded model with three mechanisms which facilitate intra-IT alignment through DevOps teams. We contribute to operational alignment literature by providing insights into the process of achieving development and operations alignment in the IT function (Onita & Dhaliwal, Citation2011). Our model shows how well-aligned IT subunits can implement agile software maintenance and shift their mindset from project orientation to product orientation.