Every company aspires to get the first-mover advantage in its respective industry. This strategy allows companies to establish a robust brand presence and offer strong product offerings in the market. However, at times, this may also lead early-stage startups to prioritize pushing product features to market without adequate consideration toward stabilizing and maintaining the product. The above-mentioned approach may help win business and keep customers satisfied; achieving excellence in DevOps still remains an elusive goal. From operational issues to the lack of focus on streamlining DevOps, several factors add up to the already existing pile of DevOps backlog.
According to the Puppet DevOps report 2023, nearly 80% of organizations remain in the middle of their DevOps journey, experiencing varying levels of success within the team level but not across the entire organization. And, one of the areas that could hinder an organization’s success is the accumulating pile of DevOps backlog.
What is DevOps Backlog?
In typical software development teams, the primary focus is often on crafting functional and groundbreaking solutions, which is understandable given the constant drive to meet strict deadlines and deliver exceptional products. However, this relentless cycle of prioritizing outputs can inadvertently relegate the development process to a lower priority, resulting in the accumulation of tasks and issues contributing to the DevOps backlog.
DevOps Backlog consists of user stories, bug fixes, technical tasks, or any other work required in supporting and sustaining the development, deployment and maintenance of a product. It is dynamic and changes with time as and when new tickets get added to the list.
Key Factors Fuelling DevOps Backlog
Managing a substantial DevOps backlog can be one of the most complex challenges for companies to overcome. Within the CI/CD pipeline and the collaboration of multiple teams, intricate system architectures and more, several potential drivers contribute to the growth of the DevOps backlog. Let’s explore some of them:
Relying on a Small DevOps Team: In many cases, DevOps teams consist of a limited number of specialists who act as the lynchpin, holding various processes together. Larger development teams often rely on these smaller DevOps teams, resulting in dependencies that lead to blocked pipelines and delayed handovers, further adding to the DevOps backlog.
Architecture Changes: As development progresses and new services are introduced, architectures naturally evolve and change. This constant evolution necessitates new tooling and infrastructure requirements. Adapting to these changes and aligning new tools and frameworks with the evolving architecture contribute to the pile of the DevOps backlog.
Adapting to Changing Business Requirements: Business requirements are dynamic and evolve over time, adding complexity to the DevOps backlog. For instance, if your organization operates as a software-as-a-service (SaaS) provider or in the healthcare industry, you may need to establish new environments tailored to specific countries, regions, or regulatory frameworks. Managing these new environments and ensuring compliance with relevant regulations adds to the workload of the DevOps team and adds to the DevOps backlog stockpile.
Ticket Overflow: In many scenarios, developers do not have direct access to DevOps toolchains, resulting in an abundance of developer tickets that need to be processed by the DevOps team. This flood of tickets significantly reduces the bandwidth and efficiency of the DevOps team, impeding their progress in addressing the backlog.
Mitigating DevOps Backlog: Prioritizing Essential Strategies
While collaborating with companies to establish DevOps standardization, we initially assumed that the DevOps backlog challenge was limited to a select few. However, we were surprised to discover that even well-established companies in the later stages of product development struggle with significant DevOps backlogs without strategic interventions. Our conversations with over 200 organizations convinced us that the DevOps backlog is a prevalent issue faced by most companies today.
A Lack of Focus on Proactive Approach
The symbiotic relationship between business growth and technological advancements is undeniable. As time progresses, the architecture inevitably becomes more intricate, resulting in a growing number of tasks and challenges within the DevOps backlog. The complexities surrounding DevOps resonate with numerous companies, yet the proactive approach to addressing them remains an issue.
At our organization, we firmly believe that discussions revolving around DevOps stories are vital for organizations aiming to tackle this critical issue head-on. Now, let’s delve into the top 10 stories that software development teams can incorporate into their backlog to strike a balance between prioritizing software development and implementing essential process improvements.
1. Automating Provisioning and Configuration of Resources and Infrastructure
Proper provisioning and configuration of resources and infrastructure are vital for software development and deployment teams. By automating these processes and leveraging the appropriate toolchains and metrics, teams can streamline resource management, fostering consistent and efficient deployment practices. This, in turn, leads to enhanced productivity and improved overall development efficiency.
2. Application Life Cycle Management
Application life cycle management encompasses the comprehensive management of an application throughout its entire life cycle, from development to deployment and beyond. Teams that engage in discussions surrounding these stories take the necessary steps to streamline the entire life cycle. By leveraging toolchains and implementing proficient workflows, these teams achieve heightened productivity and maintain consistency across the application’s lifespan.
3. Release Management and Strategies
Stories related to release management and strategies go beyond mere release scheduling. They encompass crucial aspects such as zero downtime deployments and the implementation of effective rollback strategies. By prioritizing these stories, development teams can ensure smooth and seamless deployments, minimizing disruptions for end-users and optimizing the user experience.
4. Observability
Observability is the key to implementing effective monitoring practices for applications. This involves setting up alerts, capturing relevant metrics and configuring dashboards to track application performance and resource utilization. Prioritizing observability empowers teams to proactively identify and resolve any issues within the DevOps pipeline, ensuring a stable and reliable environment for continuous improvement.
5. Database Management
Database management entails activities such as upgrading and migrating databases, implementing scheduled backups and defining restoration policies. A robust approach to database management ensures the stability and reliability of the data infrastructure, mitigating the risks of data loss or downtime. By prioritizing this story, teams can safeguard their valuable data assets and maintain operational continuity.
6. Access and Permissions
Secure access and permissions are essential for developers across different environments, including testing, staging and production. This story emphasizes the importance of maintaining a transparent audit trail, identifying and rectifying permission leaks and ensuring compliance with security standards. Prioritizing access and permissions not only promotes a secure development environment but also minimizes the risk of data breaches or unauthorized access.
7. Environment Creation and Management
Establishing and managing environments is a complex and time-consuming process that requires collaboration among various stakeholders. From development to quality assurance (QA), pre-production and production environments, meticulous configuration and provisioning are paramount. By addressing this crucial need, teams can ensure well-prepared environments, minimizing discrepancies that may arise during the development and testing stages.
8. Security and Compliance
Security and compliance are fundamental elements that should be considered when designing and implementing an architecture. Adhering to the standards and regulations defined by the geographical countries of deployment is crucial. Neglecting this aspect could result in substantial fines, vulnerabilities and the need for extensive damage control in the future, wasting valuable resources. Therefore, prioritizing security and compliance is imperative for long-term success.
9. Cloud Cost Visibility and Optimization
The dynamic nature of cloud computing necessitates efficient monitoring and optimization of costs, striking a delicate balance between frugality and system performance. Teams must possess comprehensive visibility into cloud cost usage to identify areas of potential savings. By scrutinizing resource allocation, assessing utilization patterns and implementing cost management strategies, organizations can minimize expenditure without compromising the functionality and stability of their applications.
10. Exploring New Tools and Frameworks
It is imperative for organizations to continually explore new tools and frameworks that help elevate software development practices. By implementing zero-trust networks and network segmentation, teams can fortify their security measures, bolster network resilience, and proactively mitigate potential risks. By remaining at the forefront of technological advancements, teams harness the power of these transformative tools and frameworks to optimize overall efficiency and propel innovation to new heights.
Intervene Now to Tackle DevOps Backlog
Prioritizing product features over process can lead to complex issues in DevOps backlog. Solving this problem requires a major shift in mindset and a proactive approach toward mitigating DevOps backlog. Whether your DevOps backlog is in the initial stage or has reached a later stage where it is getting more complex, the time to intervene is now.
