DevOps Lifecycle
The teams work together in each phase. Each phase is dependent on the other. No phase is role specific. In order to ensure that the DevOps lifecycle runs smoothly, everyone involved has to cooperate with one another.
In the first phase of the lifecycle, DevOps teams define and describe the functionalities of the applications they are working on. This is where everything happens before the developers start coding.
Once the plan is established, the development teams get to work writing the code.
Once a developer is finished, they put the code in a repository – a kind of digital archive – and create a Pull Request (a request to change the source code). Another developer then checks the code and ideally clears it for use. Parallel to that, computer checks of the new code are also performed, in order to find possible errors.
Parallel to the tests in the Build phase, more in-depth automated and manual tests are performed in a separate environment.
In the Release phase, the release of the code into the productive environment is prepared.
In this phase, the build – the new version of a software – is rolled out. This can usually be done without interrupting normal operations.
The changes are now live and available to the users. This is where the Operations team tends to come in. The customer also has the opportunity to give their feedback here, which can then be acted upon later.
In addition to the customer feedback, other data are also collected, for example about any errors that may occur. This feedback then flows back to the software developers, who use it to derive the next features.
Another specialist role has also been created in order to further promote the dovetailing of Development and IT Operation: the DevOps Engineer.
A DevOps Engineer is a mixture between a software developer and a system engineer. The position unites the Development, IT Operation and Quality Management units throughout the entire product lifecycle. So DevOps Engineers are conversant both with software programming and software implementation, an important qualification for making software projects faster, more efficient and agile.
Truly excellent software products can be quickly deployed into production and also economically deliver the desired performance over the long term. At ConSol, we achieve this by embracing agile software development combined with DevOps. Perhaps this approach could also benefit your IT? We're here to support you!
Christoph Ehlers
Head of Custom IT Solutions
Let's talk!
Andreas Schilz