I’ve tracked at least three different definitions of DevOps since the days of “agile infrastructure”:
So…actually five. Maybe some of them just being footnotes on the evolving concept. (And, if you, dear reader, feel these are wrong, then let’s compromise and make the list six.)
All of them evolved around bringing down The Wall of Confusion, allowing “developers” to deploy their software to production more frequently, weekly, if not daily. And, of course, making sure production stays up. (You’re supposed to call that “resiliency” and instead of SLAs use SLOs and some other newly named metrics that answer the question “IS MY SHIT WORKING?” Whatever you do, just don’t say “uptime," or you’re in for it and will be relegated to running the AS/400’s.)
I used to snide that the developers seemed to have been yanked out of DevOps, sometime around 2014 and 2015. All the talks I saw were, basically, operations talks. I haven’t really checked in on DevOps conference talks recently, but at the time, I don’t think there was much application development stuff. (I’m not sure if there ever was?)
None of this means that DevOps is not a thing. Not at all. It just means that the enterprise finds its own use for things. It also means there’s still weekly write-ups of what DevOps is - you know, those ones that are always lists of ideas, things you’re getting wrong, and how to start.
Nowadays, I try to stick to that fourth one: you want to set up autonomous teams that have all the skills and responsibility/authority/tools needed to “own” the software being specified, designed, developed, and run. This means you have to, basically, remove-by-automating all the operations stuff it takes to stand-up environments, deploy things, and do all that “day 2” stuff.
(HEY! HEY! WANT TO BUY SOME ENTERPRISE SOFTWARE?!)
Now, I think this product-centric notion of DevOps is, well, kind of an over-extension of the term “DevOps.” But since SRE has sucked out the “ops” part (but, remember, dear reader, don’t commit the embarrassing act of saying SRE is DevOps - no, no, you’d never do that, right? SO SHAMEFUL! (SRE is totally different - no overlap or similar goals shared between them at all. I mean, they have separate groups, silos! COME ON!)), slicing “DevOps” back to just “Dev,” but with a product-not-project focus isn’t too shabby.
Anyhow. I came across a good overview of this product notion of DevOps, all the way back from 2016, while re-reading Schwartz’s evergreen excellent The Art of Business Value:
Agile approaches attempt to bring together developers and the business in an atmosphere of mutual respect and joint contribution. Until now, however, the focus has been on users of the software, product visionaries, and developers. Recent developments in the Agile world—notably DevOps—have broadened this idea of respect and inclusion to encompass Operations and Security. The DevOps model, in other words, looks to break down the silos that have resulted from technical specialization over the last few decades. But the DevOps spirit goes further, looking to eliminate the conflicting incentives of organizational silos and the inhumane behaviors that can result from those conflicting incentives.
Perhaps we can take this idea even further still. There is no reason why the DevOps team’s responsibility needs to stop at the border of what used to be considered IT. The team is part of a broader enterprise, whose collective knowledge, skills, and judgment need to be part of the value creation process.
Look a' that guy! Business Value just effortlessly jets out of his pores like a peripatetic thought-monarch!
This is from an executives' perspective, but it drives home the point we’re always trying to get to with software: doing whatever it takes to figure out, create, and give users features that are actually useful to them. Somewhere beyond that, if you’re lucky, it’ll help out “the business.” Also, it should implement The Unspoken User Story: user would like software to actually work.