DevOps.com

  • Latest
    • Articles
    • Features
    • Most Read
    • News
    • News Releases
  • Topics
    • AI
    • Continuous Delivery
    • Continuous Testing
    • Cloud
    • Culture
    • DevSecOps
    • Enterprise DevOps
    • Leadership Suite
    • DevOps Practice
    • ROELBOB
    • DevOps Toolbox
    • IT as Code
  • Videos/Podcasts
    • DevOps Chats
    • DevOps Unbound
  • Webinars
    • Upcoming
    • On-Demand Webinars
  • Library
  • Events
    • Upcoming Events
    • On-Demand Events
  • Sponsored Communities
    • AWS Community Hub
    • CloudBees
    • IT as Code
    • Rocket on DevOps.com
    • Traceable on DevOps.com
    • Quali on DevOps.com
  • Related Sites
    • Techstrong Group
    • Container Journal
    • Security Boulevard
    • Techstrong Research
    • DevOps Chat
    • DevOps Dozen
    • DevOps TV
    • Digital Anarchist
  • Media Kit
  • About
  • AI
  • Cloud
  • Continuous Delivery
  • Continuous Testing
  • DevSecOps
  • Leadership Suite
  • Practices
  • ROELBOB
  • Low-Code/No-Code
  • IT as Code
  • More Topics
    • Application Performance Management/Monitoring
    • Culture
    • Enterprise DevOps

Home » Blogs » DevOps Practice » Untapping the Potential of DevOps, Part 2: Common Mistakes

Untapping the Potential of DevOps

Untapping the Potential of DevOps, Part 2: Common Mistakes

By: Jonathan Fries on December 4, 2019 1 Comment

Many companies are turning to software to differentiate themselves and drive success. But with an increased focus on software comes ever-increasing customer expectations on performance and updates. One of the best structures that IT organizations turn to is DevOps—a strategy that is designed to deliver value quickly and strategically.

Recent Posts By Jonathan Fries
  • Untapping the Potential of DevOps, Part 4: Tips for Launching a DevOps Team
  • Untapping the Potential of DevOps, Part 3: Keys to Success
  • Untapping the Potential of DevOps, Part 1: Why Is It so Critical Today?
More from Jonathan Fries
Related Posts
  • Untapping the Potential of DevOps, Part 2: Common Mistakes
  • Nurturing a Developer-Centric Culture
  • How DevOps Can Effect Culture Change to Improve Business
    Related Categories
  • Blogs
  • DevOps Culture
  • DevOps Practice
  • Enterprise DevOps
    Related Topics
  • devops culture
  • devops principles
  • DevOps Success
  • DevOps transformation
Show more
Show less

Being successful in DevOps takes careful planning and execution. Is the organization structured to execute on DevOps principles? Is the company aligned in culture and goals? But just as there are commonalities for success, there also are common threads that can lead to failure. When it comes to DevOps, it indeed holds true that failure is an opportunity to learn.

DevOps/Cloud-Native Live! Boston

With that in mind, here are three of the most common mistakes organizations encounter when diving into DevOps.

Misunderstanding Goals and Definitions

Many organizations are still grasping at a firm definition of DevOps and what it means for them. Simply labeling existing IT as DevOps isn’t going to make a difference. Furthermore, having clearly defined goals is key for just about any meaningful business endeavor. How can you know that you have succeeded if you don’t have a clear picture of what success looks like?

Before jumping onto the DevOps train, first understand what it means for your organization and decide on concrete, measurable goals to make sure the transformation is adding value. One of the key benefits of DevOps is it lends itself extremely well to data and measurement. After all, DevOps is about delivering value with velocity. How fast can you get your solutions into the hands of your customers? How close to perfect can you get your releases through automation? This measurability is what makes DevOps so satisfying—embrace it. It is a great feeling to watch the performance of a new streamlined development pipeline improve.

Fear of Change

Being fearful of rapid changes and new technologies is a killer of innovation and success. An overly cautious approach with too much manual intervention will stifle the progress of a DevOps transformation. Understand there will be change and the change may be significant for your organization, particularly depending on the current structure and processes. One of the biggest changes may be culturally—DevOps certainly requires different tools and structures, but also requires a change in understanding about how your organization fundamentally views and delivers software. Use DevOps as a catalyst for change—the speed may be daunting but can reap major long-term benefits.

Overestimating DevOps

DevOps alone can’t re-calibrate applications or change corporate culture—real leadership is required to push through organizational inertia and bring teams together. This goes back to the cultural change mentioned above. Simply putting DevOps into place and then sitting back and waiting for results will not work. Teams will need DevOps champions, not just at the beginning, but always. DevOps is a constantly growing and changing strategy, built to adapt to customer demands. It holds great power to help teams perform at new levels, but people are always the most important. Empower teams to grow with this new strategy and enjoy the benefits of a sound DevOps strategy.

Adopting DevOps is necessary to stay competitive in any market. However, while uniting people, tools and processes sound simple enough it can be a much more challenging feat than meets the eye. A DevOps transformation does not happen overnight and bumps in the road are to be expected. However, keeping in mind some of these common challenges can help keep the journey on the right track.

Bottom line: Take it one day at a time and make sure to optimize a transformation for organizational goals and long-term strategy.

— Jonathan Fries

Filed Under: Blogs, DevOps Culture, DevOps Practice, Enterprise DevOps Tagged With: devops culture, devops principles, DevOps Success, DevOps transformation

Sponsored Content
Featured eBook
DevOps: Mastering the Human Element

DevOps: Mastering the Human Element

While building constructive culture, engaging workers individually and helping staff avoid burnout have always been organizationally demanding, they are intensified by the continuous, always-on notion of DevOps.  When we think of work burnout, we often think of grueling workloads and deadline pressures. But it also has to do with mismatched ... Read More
« Becoming a Data Company: Back to the Future
The ApacheⓇ Software Foundation Welcomes CloudBees as its Newest Targeted Sponsor at the Platinum Level »

TechStrong TV – Live

Click full-screen to enable volume control
Watch latest episodes and shows

Upcoming Webinars

Accelerating Continuous Security With Value Stream Management
Monday, May 23, 2022 - 11:00 am EDT
The Complete Guide to Open Source Licenses 2022
Monday, May 23, 2022 - 3:00 pm EDT
Building a Successful Open Source Program Office
Tuesday, May 24, 2022 - 11:00 am EDT

Latest from DevOps.com

DevOps Institute Releases Upskilling IT 2022 Report 
May 18, 2022 | Natan Solomon
Creating Automated GitHub Bots in Go
May 18, 2022 | Sebastian Spaink
Is Your Future in SaaS? Yes, Except …
May 18, 2022 | Don Macvittie
Apple Allows 50% Fee Rise | @ElonMusk Fans: 70% Fake | Microsoft Salaries up by 100%?
May 17, 2022 | Richi Jennings
Making DevOps Smoother
May 17, 2022 | Gaurav Belani

Get The Top Stories of the Week

  • View DevOps.com Privacy Policy
  • This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

Download Free eBook

The State of the CI/CD/ARA Market: Convergence
https://library.devops.com/the-state-of-the-ci/cd/ara-market

Most Read on DevOps.com

15 Ways Software Becomes a Cyberthreat
May 13, 2022 | Anas Baig
Top 3 Requirements for Next-Gen ML Tools
May 13, 2022 | Jervis Hui
Why Over-Permissive CI/CD Pipelines are an Unnecessary Evil
May 16, 2022 | Vladi Sandler
Apple Allows 50% Fee Rise | @ElonMusk Fans: 70% Fake | Micro...
May 17, 2022 | Richi Jennings
Making DevOps Smoother
May 17, 2022 | Gaurav Belani

On-Demand Webinars

DevOps.com Webinar ReplaysDevOps.com Webinar Replays
  • Home
  • About DevOps.com
  • Meet our Authors
  • Write for DevOps.com
  • Media Kit
  • Sponsor Info
  • Copyright
  • TOS
  • Privacy Policy

Powered by Techstrong Group, Inc.

© 2022 ·Techstrong Group, Inc.All rights reserved.