Overcoming Challenges in DevOps Adoption: Insights from Consultants

To promote continuous growth and digital innovation, many Software and IT Operations teams have moved towards DevOps solutions in their workflow to stay on top of the curve in the current landscape. Businesses that have not yet integrated the DevOps mechanism feel compelled to do so upon reflecting on the competition in the market. However, the implementation of any new solution comes with its set of challenges that a business has to overcome. In this article, let’s dive deep into comprehending the biggest challenges in implementing DevOps and get insights from DevOps consulting firms on how to surmount them. 

 

Resolution of the Dev vs Ops approach 

The biggest issue in any organization is the misalignment of the Dev team and the Ops team, where developers’ teams are bidding to devise and change the code at the maximum pace, and the operations teams are assaying the maintenance of such high service levels. This causes disputes among them because of contradictory goals, code transfers, escalated costs, and longer feedback loops. Implementing DevOps solutions brings these two teams together, overcoming the misarrangement between them. Opting for DevOps Consulting might be a good place to begin understanding the integration process of both teams. 

 

Conventional Perception of Continuous Delivery Practices 

Needless to say, your code must be delivered continuously to limit feedback loops by employing CI/CD pipelines, but the introspection of your team’s understanding of delivering the software continuously and at higher frequencies is also equally important. Continuous Delivery needs to be perceived the same by every team to avoid any potential friction – any DevOps Consulting Firm will tell you that it’s the set of processes to follow so you can deliver newer versions of your software by tapping into all issues such as getting rid of bugs, adding newer features, and more. This ensures that your software is always in a deployable state and that no changes break the original project and achieve stability. 

 

Evolution from age-old Infrastructure to Microservices 

Although having served the business for a long time, legacy infra and applications with complicated architecture stacks can be troublesome. Over-use of it can lead to being technologically left behind with high costs of maintenance and operation and difficulties in maintaining stasis. Many DevOps consultation companies suggest the utilization of infrastructure-as-code with a microservices architecture to rebuild and upgrade the whole software development lifecycle so that the business can adapt to the changing customer needs and markets effectively. This can open doors to faster and quicker development and innovation. 

 

Excessive focus on Toolsets 

Implementation of DevOps solutions is an excellent prospect – it is almost as if the new toolset that accompanies it will be an answer to all your issues. However, several organizations fail to understand that the employment of newer tools demands training your team members on how to use them while ensuring that these new tools are integrated within the prevalent infrastructure without any hassle. However, what makes DevOps so successful is not the toolsets that come with it – it’s your team structure and processes that improve dramatically. When you clearly define these processes and make your team function smoothly in this new environment, the tools that you require will follow. According to the expert insights of a DevOps consulting company, the best way to avoid slow transformation to DevOps practices is to train your team to function during and after transition and for using the newly implemented tools.

 

Employment of a Strategy for Test Automation 

No matter at which stage your organization is in the process of DevOps implementation, your team is bound to know the importance of test automation as its fundamental enabler. Despite that, at times, automated tests face a slowdown. To tackle this, the organization needs to introduce some Behavior-driven Development solutions by implementing a sample of the pre-decided strategy as a reference. Additionally, moving forward, it’s essential to think in retrospect about how data management is done for tests, how open-sourced shared libraries can be utilized for the same, and what good thorough testing for the code base looks like. According to all DevOps Consulting firms, this can clearly show better ways to implement test automation, curtailing feedback loops, and finish up your software quicker.
 

Aversion to Change 

Many organizations and their teams hesitate to shift from traditional to DevOps solutions. Many are somewhat scared of the change and expect results to happen overnight. As per expert DevOps Consultation Firms, the best solution is to approach it as a journey, not a destination. One way to look at it is slowly accustoming yourself to the process and taking it slow and gradually. An organization can implement DevOps solutions to revamp a small, existing software to design strategies to function smoothly. When your team views the benefits of its implementation on a smaller scale, it would be much more receptive to adapting it throughout, making the transition easier and smoother. 

 

To summarize, implementing DevOps solutions will have its challenges – and that’s a normal part and parcel of the transition, which will not have any significant consequences if it is handled skillfully. It’s important to keep reiterating the benefits of DevOps and develop a robust process that will ease the working environment for your team members and the organization.