DevOps, the Agile Cadence and Modern Code Languages…an Opportunity for IT Optimization?

I had an interesting conversation with an IT executive around IT’s changing cadence.  We were talking about some of the “overlooked” IT changes that establish a new IT pace, or create a new “IT heartbeat”…if IT organizations can sync up.

In the area of release and deployment there were huge differences in the cadence of IT deployment practices (as we prepared to started the auto-deployment discussions). What we found was a new potential IT cadence systematically coming from IT development teams who had adopted modern dynamic or iterative code languages (Ruby, Python, etc.) and Agile practices.

Some interesting irony here too, just because the IT Development is reaching new levels of productivity around “speed, reliability and quality” does not necessarily mean that the IT operational teams (or the Ops silo) understands or appreciates the IT and business benefits of this cadence-change or new IT heartbeat.

The use of modern “non-compiling’ languages and agile development processes has some very positive implications for operational strategies too, especially in the areas of

• app-maintenance / performance optimization,
• asset management
• service support
• security / compliance / governance
• and incident resolution.

But if IT Ops can’t hear or see tactical advantages in adapting to new changes brought about by the adoption of modern code languages and agile development practices, it is even more unlikely that will take the time to see the potential strategic operational advantages in running IT with new efficiency.

If IT Ops simply defaults to status quo behavior and the legacy IT cadence set-up to serve and accommodate:

• waterfall development speeds
• projects that were prone to delays and cost over-runs
• apps with incredible service-disruption potential at release

and developer contributions that could anonymously hide poor quality code components inside a rushed mega-app effort than IT as a whole will miss out on the opportunity to establish a new faster heartbeat of innovation.

The DevOps discussions should look across your whole IT landscape and see the unique potential to establish an IT cadence that is optimized for your specific business needs.