By taking a modern approach to software delivery, an organisation can not only amplify value creation throughout its release pipeline but also measure – and consequently scale – DevOps correctly
We all know that CI and CD hold the power to drive digital transformation. These DevOps building blocks have allowed companies to optimise their productivity and foster innovation through high-velocity software iterations, and their far-reaching benefits have drawn attention not only from developer teams, but also from the likes of IT, operations, security, and leadership. To be precise, research has shown that security is one of the key stakeholders that are critical in DevOps implementation at 44 percent, followed by central IT admin at 38 percent, management and leadership at 25 percent, line of business managers at 23 percent, and so on.
Though these figures highlight the growing recognition and importance of DevOps in driving business value, the same research has shown that only 42 percent of organisations use quality metrics such as defect rates or vulnerabilities to measure and prove the business value of DevOps. On the other hand, 41 percent of firms use business-related metrics – such as customer satisfaction or traffic.
The success of DevOps-driven delivery shouldn’t be limited to traditional IT metrics. Rather, it should consider the value that ties technical outcomes to business results. This is where Software Delivery Management (SDM) comes in – by taking a modern approach to software delivery, an organisation can not only amplify value creation throughout its release pipeline, but also measure – and consequently scale – DevOps correctly.
Two halves of a whole: What SDM can do that CI/CD alone cannot
Simply put, you cannot improve what you cannot measure. Though many organisations have begun moving towards an integrated DevOps approach with the best of intentions, it is not uncommon for these companies to stumble in execution – for instance, it is not uncommon for an organisation to use over 50 different development tools. Teams following DevOps best practices can also be found approaching tasks or projects in completely different methods, even from within the same company.
As a result, each standalone tool or process serves to solve only one specific step in the software development lifecycle; ultimately contributing to ever-increasing complexity. Without any shared data, common methods to manage handoffs between teams, and mutual visibility into the processes, it is difficult for businesses to get the visibility needed to create continuous feedback loops and evaluate whether a new feature is actually meeting its intended business goal or KPI.
That said, this does not discount the value of DevOps. It is undoubtable that CI and CD offer enormous value in helping us deliver better software, faster – however, it does not ensure that we are delivering the right feature, or that the business need is being met