What Is DevOps? A Guide to the Basics

The term DevOps combines the words “development” and “operations.” In practice, it’s a union between the development teams and operations teams. DevOps is a software development methodology that is often thought of as a process, a culture, or a set of principles that enables organizations to deliver products quickly and continuously.

DevOps key purpose

DevOps was created in response to issues that came from longstanding workplace traditions of having siloed teams—or completely separate teams for development, testing, and operations in relation to any single product. This siloed structure isn’t always conducive to efficiency, as each team has its own sets of priorities, tasks, and timelines that don’t necessarily align with the surrounding teams. The key purpose of DevOps is to create a more cohesive development cycle. Additional benefits of a DevOps culture include improved team efficiency, increased release speed, and better feedback mechanisms.

DevOps methodologies vs. the traditional software development process

In a company with a traditional process, software developers would write the product code, then hand it off to a testing team to test the product’s functionality, and would then hand it off to an operations team to maintain the software long-term. This siloed structure isn’t always conducive to efficiency, as each team has its own sets of priorities, tasks, and timelines that don’t necessarily align with the surrounding teams.

With a DevOps approach, those multiple teams are integrated into a single team. Testing might occur automatically and frequently throughout the process alongside product development, and all groups can be involved in long-term maintenance.