Many people have heard the term DevOps but aren’t overly familiar with its meaning. They also don’t understand its relationship to product management. The following guide explains DevOps and how it works with product management to improve product development.
What is DevOps?
DevOps is a process used to bring people, processes, and tools involved in IT operations and the software development process together. DevOps is a development process that brings teams together. Siloes become less of a concern, and teams collaborate around shared objectives. The goal of this methodology is to deliver new features and technology rapidly. When doing so, the teams cannot allow the product’s stability or performance to suffer. Continuous delivery is a trademark of the DevOps process. When combined with Agile Product Management training, an organization can benefit significantly from improved delivery time and higher quality products.
DevOps Principles
DevOps revolves around certain principles to create a culture of continuous delivery. Users refer to these principles as the CALMS model. The C stands for culture because it forms the foundation of business transformation. This transformation won’t be successful if the company’s culture doesn’t change. All team members must encourage collaboration, openness, and shared objectives. The culture must be in place for the other principles to work.
The A refers to automation. DevOps methodologies rely on automation because automated processes provide immediate feedback. The team must have an agile mindset when developing products so changes can be made rapidly. This mindset ensures that the end product adds value to the user’s life, and this value must always be the focus.
Lean thinking is the L in the CALMS model. To provide value, the development team must eliminate low-value activities. The goal is continuous improvement, and the team should embrace failure. Within this methodology, each failure is viewed as a learning opportunity.
Measurement is the next stage of the process. Teams shouldn’t focus on external key performance indicators. They need to choose a few KPIs and focus on those. Keeping it simple will help ensure customer value. The final principle is sharing what has been learned. Team members should come together and discuss what they learned during the process to benefit future projects.
The Benefits of DevOps
When DevOps is integrated into product management tasks, it offers many benefits. This methodology’s cultural mindset promotes collaboration. When team members share responsibility, they trust one another more because they work toward the same goal. Everybody is on the same page, making the team stronger.
Repeatability and automation make it easy to scale processes and increase flexibility and agility. Automation allows for ongoing feedback so teams can rapidly pivot when a problem arises. The team doesn’t need to wait until the product is finished to test it and find bugs that need to be fixed; they can do this throughout the development process.
How DevOps Impacts Product Management
Product managers turn to DevOps to benefit from lean and agile practices. A product manager can use this methodology to try innovative things to see if they work. They won’t hesitate for fear of failure because failure is seen as a learning opportunity. They can test different versions with consumers to learn where changes are needed. If a change doesn’t work, the product manager can return to the previous version and try again.
Continuous Integration and Continuous Delivery are two concepts found in DevOps that apply in other industries. They remove product development barriers so new versions can be released regularly. Tests are conducted routinely to catch problems before the development process moves forward.
Product managers must decide when a new version should be shared with the public. Any change in a product or service could lead to customers making other changes within their organizations. The new version must be released immediately if the change involves fixing a bug. When the change involves adding a new feature, it might be held until several features are ready to be launched.
Building High-Impact Products
The product, development/test, and design teams must collaborate to create high-impact products. They have to ensure the product is valuable, usable, feasible, and viable. Customers must be willing to buy and use the items. However, before they can do so, manufacturers must be able to build the item within the current time and cost constraints. In addition, the product must fit into the manufacturer’s overall business plan.
When DevOps merges with product management, the focus turns from the project to the product. This mindset is challenging in some industries, such as IT. For many years, individuals in this field focused on projects. They would start a project and see it through to completion before moving on to the next thing. Each project had a start and end date.
With products, the project never ends. Once the product is released, consumers use it, and the company must respond to feedback and make adjustments where needed. The team responsible for its development and implementation must also be available to maintain the product, and nobody can do that better than them.
Working Models
DevOps teams often use Kanban as a working model. This model allows for chop and change while delivering quickly. In contrast, product development teams usually prefer Scrum because it enables them to provide small batches of work rapidly. When the two teams work together, they must find a working model they can all use.
DevOps is more than a software development method. It is a methodology that can be used to allow for effective and efficient product development and management. When DevOps is integrated into the product management process, the focus turns to boosting customer value. Operational tasks won’t sidetrack the team. Product managers can experiment and see how each change impacts the product’s performance. If issues are found, they can respond immediately. The DevOps members can help determine the problem and how to fix it.
Learn more today about how DevOps and product management go hand-in-hand to improve products and satisfy customers. The results are impressive, so this partnership is something every product manager should look into today.
