One of the advantages of a DevOps environment is that software updates and full releases come at a faster pace than with traditional methods of development. Yoram Mizrachi - CTO & Founder of Perfecto Mobile offers his take on what a CIO needs to be aware of and prepared for a higher turn-around rate in this kind of environment.
The Enterprisers Project (TEP): What are the 2 biggest issues CIOs should consider when implementing a structured DevOps environment?
Mizrachi:
- Needing to gain visibility into your internal environment: Since release times are much shorter in a DevOps environment than in waterfall, source code, device labs, and other internal factors need to be readily available at all times. A CIO needs to have visibility into what is “up and running” and when an environment is “down,” otherwise it negatively impacts the shortened release cycle and pushes back the time-to-release if not accounted for in a plan.
- Getting control of quality: It’s imperative to understand exactly what is being tested, and where testing is happening in the SDLC. Not knowing where testing occurs can greatly impact the quality of a release. Take a mobile application for example – a DevOps team has one opportunity to make an impression to the market with a new release. Once it’s out there, the brand, its reputation and channel for profit is subject to user feedback. A poorly tested app that results in a sub-par end user experience will draw negative reviews, loss of both current and customers, and could negatively impact revenue."
(TEP): Do you think DevOps is an idea whose time has finally come?
Mizrachi: Yes, DevOps’ time definitely has finally come. In the mobile market there is a very close relation between the mobile applications as the “main product” and the end-user experience, which is often impacted by things such as network environment, mobile unsupported capabilities etc. DevOps teams and methodology is the ideal solution to assure smooth product delivery to the market with continuous support, upgrades and monitoring.
(TEP): Are you seeing a strong demand for faster delivery in your organization?
Mizrachi: Of course. As the mobile market continues to grow so does the challenge of faster delivery. We see it quite often when a new OS version (e.g. iOS7.1) is just around the corner, customers already ask and expect us to have it supported from day 1 so they can leverage our product for their continuous quality testing without any issues. On the other hand, the ability to deliver fast ties into deploying bug fixes is often also requested, adding more capabilities which are important for both sides etc.
(TEP): Are you implementing DevOps in your organization? If so, how? What are the biggest challenges or surprises you’ve seen?
Mizrachi: Yes at Perfecto Mobile we are implementing it, and we defined a process which aligns the various teams in such a way that our product releases are well deployed and tested by involving both R&D/QA/Operations. The challenges is always to meet strict deadlines, and to deploy with the highest expected quality without neglecting any of our customers. We believe that the biggest challenge is to retain happy customers who have the latest products with the highest quality.
