DevOps and information technology service management: A problem management case study

The use of DevOps is a predominant attribute of businesses engaged in the development and maintenance of Information Technology systems. Although literature exploring DevOps practices has expanded, there is still much unexplored territory on its operational ramifications. This is particularly observed when considering their potential impact on ITSM frameworks such as ITIL, which governs Operations. This research aims to establish how DevOps principles and practices can be applied to Problem Management, a core Service Management process. Specifically, it explores which DevOps practices may be used throughout the Problem lifecycle, as well as benefits which may result from them. An exploratory case study was carried out with the participation of Problem Managers operating in a DevOps environment. Three data collection methods were applied: Semi structured interviews, in which participants described their experience and insight in relation to DevOps and Problem Management; documental analysis and observation, where processes and workflows were examined; and a focus group exercise in which study outcomes were discussed and systematized. This research indicates that DevOps practices have varying degrees of significance for a Problem Management process. Practices associated with continuous planning and collaboration are prone to having greater significance in a Problem lifecycle, with the potential of enabling benefits such as quicker Problem identification, higher quality Root Cause Analysis, and improved resolution times. The novelty of insight gathered in this study benefits both academics, through its contribution to an expanding body of knowledge, and professionals, considering the practical and applicable nature of findings. Future work is also presented.A utilização de metodologias DevOps é hoje uma característica predominante de organizações envolvidas no desenvolvimento e manutenção de sistemas de Tecnologia e Informação. Apesar da crescente produção de literatura a examinar práticas DevOps, existe muito território por explorar referente às suas ramificações a nível operacional. Isto é particularmente notável quando se consideram potenciais interações com frameworks de ITSM como o ITIL, que governam Operações. Esta pesquisa tem como objetivo estabelecer quais princípios e práticas DevOps podem ser aplicadas na Gestão de Problemas, um processo central para a Gestão de Serviços. Especificamente, exploramos quais práticas DevOps podem ser utilizadas ao longo do ciclo de vida de um Problema, tal como que benefícios poderão resultar da sua aplicação. Um caso de estudo exploratório foi realizado com a participação de Gestores de Problemas a operar num ambiente DevOps. Três métodos de recolha de dados foram aplicados: Entrevistas semiestruturadas, onde participantes descreveram a sua experiência e conhecimento em relação a DevOps e Gestão de Problemas; análise documental e observação, onde processos operacionais foram examinados; e uma discussão em grupo onde resultados do estudo foram discutidos e sistematizados. Esta investigação indica que práticas DevOps tem variados níveis de significância para um processo de Gestão de Problemas. Práticas associadas ao planeamento contínuo e colaboração tendem a ter maior significância no ciclo de vida de um Problema, com potencial para gerar benefícios como a mais rápida identificação de Problemas, maior qualidade na análise de causa, e melhorias nos tempos de resolução. As conclusões apresentadas neste estudo trazem benefícios tanto para académicos, expandindo o corpo de conhecimento disponível sobre o tema, como para profissionais, considerando a sua natureza prática e aplicável. Direções para trabalho futuro são também apresentadas

What is There About DevOps Assessment? A Systematic Mapping

DevOps has been established as a framework used by software development companies seeking to set mechanisms to automate their development processes. Consequently, over the last decade, many companies have adopted DevOps to support their project’s development process and perform continuous improvement tasks to ensure that it is applied correctly. To achieve this, companies are looking for solutions that allow them to evaluate the degree of implementation of DevOps in their internal processes. In this sense, the objective of this study focuses on identifying, through a systematic mapping of the literature, the mechanisms used to assess DevOps in software development companies. According to the above, the current state of knowledge related to the proposal of processes, models, techniques, tools, and methodological guides is presented to conduct the DevOps assessment. As a result, it is noted that there are multiple methodological solutions that seek to assess DevOps; however, a high degree of heterogeneity was evidenced in the identified solutions, resulting in the need to establish a clear framework that serves as the basis for proposing a generic, structured, and unambiguous DevOps assessment model applicable to software companies

Agile information technology service management with DevOps: An incident management case study

This research aims to investigate how DevOps culture can be applied in the incident management process. The authors believe, based on experience as practitioners, that agile software development methodologies are fair enough to be used on Incident Management process, to quickly restore the business interruption. An application management team which solves incidents and applies DevOps practices was studied. Three data collection methods were used: interviews, document analysis and observation. This research provides novel findings supported by metrics and real experience implementing DevOps practices in incident management process. The novelty of the findings brings advantages for academics, and due to the exploratory nature of this research, it extends the body of knowledge. It also provides contributions for practitioners, by showing how these practices can be applied and the result of the implementation of these practices. Directions of future work are also presented.info:eu-repo/semantics/acceptedVersio

DevOps practices in incident management process

This research aims to investigate how DevOps culture can be applied in the incident management process to improve it. Given the exploratory approach of the research, it was performed a case study. For this case study an application management team was studied where a sample of 10 persons were interviewed. This team solves incidents and provides the necessary support to the users in their daily business tasks using DevOps practices. During this case study three data collection methods were used: semi structured interviews, document analysis and observation. This research provides novel findings about a possible relation between DevOps practices and incident management phases as well as on “why” and “how” can these practices help incident management. The results are supported by metrics, like time between releases, total of over delivered incidents solutions and releases per month, to justify how this team’s performance have increased after the implementation of DevOps practices. The novelty of the findings brings advantages for academics, and due to the exploratory nature of this research, it extends the body of knowledge. It also provides contributions for practitioners, by showing how these practices can be applied and the result of the implementation of these practices. Directions of future work are also presented.O objetivo desta pesquisa é investigar como a cultura DevOps pode ser aplicada ao processo de gestão de incidentes e como pode melhorá-lo. Dada a abordagem exploratória para esta pesquisa, foi feito um caso de estudo. O objeto de estudo para esta pesquisa, foi uma equipa de gestão aplicacional em gestão de incidentes, onde um conjunto de 10 pessoas foi entrevistado. Esta equipa resolve incidentes e fornece o suporte necessário aos utilizadores de negócio, nas suas tarefas do dia a dia, utilizando práticas DevOps. Durante a elaboração deste caso de estudo, foi feita a triangulação de três métodos de recolha de dados: entrevistas semiestruturadas, análise documental e observação. Esta pesquisa fornece novas conclusões sobre uma possível relação entre práticas de DevOps e as fases do processo de gestão de incidentes, tal como o “porquê” e o “como” estas práticas podem ajudar o processo de gestão de incidentes. São apresentados resultados, como o tempo entre entregas, total de soluções de incidentes entregues a mais do que estava planeado e o número de entregas por mês, de forma a justificar como existiu uma melhoria de desempenho desta equipa após a implementação destas práticas. As conclusões que são apresentadas nesta pesquisa trazem vantagens tanto para académicos devido à natureza exploratória deste estudo que estende o corpo de conhecimento científico. E também para profissionais, por demonstrar como aplicar estas práticas e os seus resultados após implementação. Direções para trabalho futuro são também apresentadas

Ohjelmistokehityssyklien kiihdytys osana julkaisutiheyden kasvattamista ohjelmistotuotannossa

In recent years, companies engaged in software development have taken into use practices that allow the companies to release software changes almost daily to their users. Previously, release frequency for software has been counted in months or even years so the leap to daily releases can be considered big. The underlying change to software development practices is equally large, spanning from individual development teams to organizations as a whole. The phenomenon has been framed as continuous software engineering by the software engineering research community. Researchers are beginning to realize the impact of continuous software engineering to existing disciplines in the field. Continuous software engineering can be seen to touch almost every aspect of software development from the inception of an idea to its eventual manifestation as a release to the public. Release management or release engineering has become an art in itself that must be mastered in order to be effective in releasing changes rapidly. Empirical studies in the area should be helpful in further exploring the industry-driven phenomenon and understanding the effects of continuous software engineering better. The purpose of this thesis is to provide insight into the habit of releasing software changes often that is promoted by continuous software engineering. There are three main themes in the thesis. A main theme in the thesis is seeking an answer to the rationale of frequent releases. The second theme focuses on charting the software processes and practices that need to be in place when releasing changes frequently. Organizational circumstances surrounding the adoption of frequent releases and related practices are highlighted in the third theme. Methodologically, this thesis builds on a set of case studies. Focusing on software development practices of Finnish industrial companies, the thesis data has been collected from 33 different cases using a multiple-case design. Semi-structured interviews were used for data collection along with a single survey. Respondents for the interviews included developers, architects and other people involved in software development. Thematic analysis was the primary qualitative approach used to analyze the interview responses. Survey data from the single survey was analyzed with quantitative analysis. Results of the thesis indicate that a higher release frequency makes sense in many cases but there are constraints in selected domains. Daily releases were reported to be rare in the case projects. In most cases, there was a significant difference between the capability to deploy changes and the actual release cycle. A strong positive correlation was found between delivery capability and a high degree of task automation. Respondents perceived that with frequent releases, users get changes faster, the rate of feedback cycles is increased, and product quality can improve. Breaking down the software development process to four quadrants of requirements, development, testing, and operations and infrastructure, the results suggest continuity is required in all four to support frequent releases. In the case companies, the supporting development practices were usually in place but specific types of testing and the facilities for deploying the changes effortlessly were not. Realigning processes and practices accordingly needs strong organizational support. The responses imply that the organizational culture, division of labor, employee training, and customer relationships all need attention. With the right processes and the right organizational framework, frequent releases are indeed possible in specific domains and environments. In the end, release practices need to be considered individually in each case by weighing the associated risks and benefits. At best, users get to enjoy enhancements quicker and to experience an increase in the perceived value of software sooner than would otherwise be possible.Ohjelmiston julkaisu on eräänlainen virstanpylväs ohjelmiston kehityksessä, jossa ohjelmiston uusi versio saatetaan loppukäyttäjille käyttöön. Julkaistu versio voi sisältää ohjelmistoon uusia toiminnallisuuksia, korjauksia tai muita päivityksiä. Ohjelmiston julkaisutiheys säätelee kuinka tiheästi uusia versioita julkaistaan käyttäjille. Ohjelmistojen julkaisutiheys voi vaihdella sovelluksesta ja toimintaympäristöstä riippuen. Kuukausien tai vuosien pituinen julkaisuväli ei ole alalla tavaton. Viime vuosina tietyt ohjelmistoalalla toimivat yritykset ovat ottaneet käyttöön jatkuvan julkaisemisen malleja, joilla pyritään lyhentämään julkaisuvälejä kuukausista aina viikkoihin tai päiviin. Jatkuvan julkaisemisen mallien käyttöönotolla on merkittäviä vaikutuksia niin ohjelmistokehitysmenetelmiin kuin työn sisäiseen organisointiin. Jatkuvan julkaisun mallien myötä julkaisunhallinnasta on tullut keskeinen osa ohjelmistokehitystä. Väitöstyössä käsitellään julkaisutiheyden kasvattamiseen liittyviä kysymyksiä kolmen eri teeman alla. Työn ensimmäinen teema keskittyy julkaisutiheyden kasvattamisen tarkoitusperien ymmärtämiseen. Toisessa teemassa suurennuslasin alla ovat ohjelmistokehityksen käytänteet, jotka edesauttavat siirtymistä kohti jatkuvaa julkaisua. Kolmannessa teemassa huomion kohteena ovat työn organisointiin ja työkulttuurin muutokseen liittyvät seikat siirryttäessä jatkuvaan julkaisuun. Väitöstyössä esitettyihin kysymyksiin on haettu vastauksia tapaustukimusten avulla. Tapaustutkimusten kohteena ovat olleet suomalaiset ohjelmistoalan yritykset. Tietoja on kerätty haastattelu- ja kyselytutkimuksin yli kolmestakymmennestä tapauksesta. Tutkimusten tulosten perusteella julkaisutiheyden kasvattamiselle on edellytyksiä monessa ympäristössä, mutta kaikille toimialoille se ei sovellu. Yleisesti ottaen tiheät julkaisut olivat harvinaisia. Monessa tapauksessa havaittiin merkittävä ero julkaisukyvykkyyden ja varsinaisen julkaisutiheyden välillä. Julkaisukyvykkyys oli sitä parempi, mitä pidemmälle sovelluskehityksen vaiheet olivat automatisoitu. Jatkuvan julkaisun käyttöönotto edellyttää vahvaa muutosjohtamista, työntekijöiden kouluttamista, organisaatiokulttuurin uudistamista sekä asiakassuhteiden hyvää hallintaa. Parhaassa tapauksessa tiheät julkaisut nopeuttavat niin muutosten toimittamista käyttäjille kuin palautesyklejä sekä johtavat välillisesti parempaan tuotelaatuun

Metrics Model to Complement the Evaluation of DevOps in Software Companies

This article presents a model to complement the evaluation of DevOps in software companies. It was designed by harmonizing the elements of the DevOps process identified through a systematic mapping of the literature and aimed to know the state of the art of methodological solutions and tools to evaluate DevOps in the industry. The process elements were identified, compared, and integrated into a common process structure that was used to establish a total of 11 metrics using the Goal-Question-Metric approach. The model was evaluated by a focus group of expert DevOps professionals. They determined that the model is clear, easy to apply, and provides valuable information to companies to improve their DevOps practices

Software business : A short history and trends for the future

During its 70 years of existence, the software business has been following an evolution curve that can be considered typical for several fields of industrial businesses. Technological breakthroughs and innovations are typically seen as enablers for business evolution in the domain of technology and innovation management. Software, data collection, and data analysis represent a greater and greater part of the value of products and services, and today, their role is also becoming essential in more traditional fields. This, however, requires business and technology competences that traditional industries do not have. The transformation also enables new ways of doing business and opens the field for new kinds of players. Together, all this leads to transformation and new possibilities for the software industry. In this paper we study the overall trajectory of the software business, and then offer some viewpoints on the change in different elements of business models. Copyright © by the paper's authors. Copying permitted only for private and academic purposes.Peer reviewe

Relationship of Transformational Leadership and Organizational Change During Enterprise Agile and DevOps Initiatives In Financial Service Firms

The rate of organizations adopting Agile and DevOps methodologies has grown in recent years, with researchers observing the impact of leadership styles and methodology adoption, presenting challenges with sustaining and scaling change initiatives. Where organizations within the marketplace today reveal the significance of leadership in influencing change, while findings signal deficiencies with having leaders who are ready. The purpose of this quantitative correlational research examines the increased probability of failure organizations face when engaging in enterprise Agile and DevOps transformational change initiatives. Through investigating the relationship between transformational leadership behaviors, readiness for change, and organizational citizenship behavior exhibited by management and employees engaging in Agile and DevOps initiatives within regional financial services companies with a presence in the South Eastern United States. The resulting study surveyed 390 anonymous participants with varying backgrounds and organizational roles based upon predetermined quota constraints aligning with the Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Census, and FDIC data. Utilizing three principal instruments to measure transformational leadership, change readiness, and organizational citizenship behavior; conducting statistical analysis for construct reliability, descriptive properties, and hypothesis testing, concluding the existence of influential correlation of change readiness and organizational citizenship behaviors having a relationship with transformational leadership. The research findings identify the association of organizational readiness and employee social citizenship responsibility with applicability to transformational leadership, bringing light to the significance of grooming and sustaining leaders at all levels of the organization

Energizing collaborative industry‑academia learning: a present case and future visions

In Industry-Academia Collaborations (IAC) both academic, scientific research results and industrial practitioner findings and experiences are produced. Both types of knowledge should be gathered, codified, and disseminated efficiently and effectively. This paper investigates a recent (2014-2017) large-scale IAC R&D&I program case (Need for Speed, N4S) from a learning perspective. It was one of the programs in the Finnish SHOK (Strategic Centres of Science, Technology, and Innovation) system. The theoretical bases are in innovation management, knowledge management, and higher education (university) pedagogy. In the future, IAC projects should be more and more commonplace since major innovations are hardly ever done in isolation, not even by the largest companies. Both intra-organizational and inter-organizational learning networks are increasingly critical success factors. Collaborative learning capabilities will thus be required more often from all the participating parties. Efficient and effective knowledge creation and sharing are underpinning future core competencies. In this paper, we present and evaluate a collaboratively created and publicly shared digital knowledge repository called "Treasure Chest" produced during our case program. The starting point was a jointly created Strategic Research and Innovation Agenda (SRIA), which defined the main research themes and listed motivating research questions to begin with-i.e., intended learning outcomes (ILO). During the 4-year program, our collaborative industry-academia (I-A) learning process produced a range of theoretical and empirical results, which were iteratively collected and packaged into the Treasure Chest repository. Outstandingly, it contained, in addition to traditional research documents, narratives of the industrial learning experiences and more than 100 actionable knowledge items. In conclusion, our vision of the future is that such transparently shared, ambitious, and versatile outcome goals with a continuous integrative collection of the results are keys to effective networked I-A collaboration and learning. In that way, the N4S largely avoided the general problem of often conflicting motives between industrial firms seeking answers and applied solutions to their immediate practical problems and academic researchers aiming at more generalizable knowledge creation and high-quality scientific publications.Peer reviewe