Will DevOps Cease to Exist? My Honest Opinion

With the advent and adoption of no-code platforms, there is a rumor in the IT industry about the extinction of DevOps. Here, we evaluate the truth!

DevOps is an IT development and operations approach emphasizing collaboration, automation, and integration between development and operations. Its importance lies in streamlining the software delivery process, enabling faster and more reliable releases of products.

The approach fosters a culture of continuous improvement, agility, and responsiveness to customer needs. DevOps helps organizations develop higher-quality software and achieve greater customer satisfaction by automating manual tasks, reducing errors, and promoting collaboration. However, due to the recent innovations in the digital landscape, the future of the approach has somewhat become uncertain.

Is DevOps Dying or Dead?

The one-word answer is NO. DevOps is highly versatile, and with every passing day, it is evolving and improving. So, how did the conception of DevOps dying pop up in the first place?

According to experts, many organizations tend to (simply) hire DevOps engineers rather than trying to understand its fundamental principles. In such cases, DevOps seems like something unrewarding. Mallory Haigh, the director of customer success at Humanities, explains that if something in DevOps goes extinct, it will be the ideology, not the methodology.

DevOps is transitioning into its second phase, emphasizing engagement and enablement so companies can guarantee more robust infrastructures. To keep their KPIs (Key Performance Indicators) high, many companies combine platform engineering with DevOps approaches to develop reliable solutions.

DevOps Vs. NoOps: Will the Latter Prevail?

NoOps, short for "No Operations," is an emerging software development and operations concept. It represents a shift toward a fully automated, self-sufficient system with little or no human interference. In a NoOps environment, sophisticated platforms and tools manage and automate all tasks, from infrastructure provisioning to monitoring and scaling. The most common NoOps tools include Kubernetes, AWS Lambda, Terraform, etc.

Although NoOps presents an intriguing vision of automation, it does not signify the end of DevOps. Instead, it represents an evolution within the DevOps ecosystem.

Firstly, not all organizations are ready for NoOps. Transitioning to a NoOps model requires significant infrastructure and tooling investments. A survey in 2021 confirmed that around 85% of IT companies were employing DevOps techniques to achieve high business values. [1]

Secondly, the complexity of modern applications and the need for real-time adaptability may still mandate human intervention. Therefore, DevOps principles (which emphasize collaboration between development and operations teams) remain vital in troubleshooting and handling unforeseen issues.

Moreover, compliance with strict regulations is critical in highly regulated industries like finance and healthcare, which necessitates human intervention. DevOps incorporating security is known as DevSecOps and comprises of holistic approaches for application security and compliance.

Many organizations are still running on legacy monolith apps that require human supervision because NoOps methodologies do not apply to all types of environments. Therefore, despite the emergence of this zero-maintenance approach, DevOps will continue to be superior as it enables working with people from all domains to develop quality products.

Why DevOps Won’t Be Leaving the Stage Anytime Soon? Industrial Evidences

Here are some reasons why DevOps will never cease to exist despite the appearance of no-code platforms. However, the methodologies may evolve according to industrial advancements.

Stable Software Delivery

DevOps ensures stable software delivery through continuous integration, automated tests, and incremental deployment. Collaboration among teams streamlines communication and eliminates errors. Infrastructure as code maintains consistency, and monitoring ensures an early detection of issues. The feedback loops ensure quick adjustments, enhancing stability over time.

Next, security measures are integrated into the process to ensure safer deployments. Regular updates and improvements keep the software robust and adaptable. DevOps fosters a culture of responsibility, accountability, and shared ownership, promoting stability throughout the software development and delivery lifecycle.

Secure Productions

DevOps ensures secure production environments through a holistic approach called DevSecOps. It integrates security practices throughout the software development lifecycle. Security is not treated as an afterthought but is ingrained from the start. Automation tools scan code for vulnerabilities, while continuous monitoring detects and responds to security threats in real-time.

Regular security audits and compliance checks are part of the process. Teams collaborate to prioritize security concerns, mitigating risks early. This proactive stance safeguards sensitive data and minimizes the potential impact of security breaches. DevSecOps ensures that security remains a shared responsibility and a core element of every production release, guaranteeing more resilient and secure systems.

Fast Releases

DevOps also guarantees fast releases by automating processes, enabling continuous integration and delivery. Automation decreases manual errors, accelerating the development process. Collaborative workflows facilitate efficient communication, and IaC allows for rapid provisioning and scaling of resources. There are monitoring and feedback loops to identify bottlenecks and issues early, ensuring quick resolutions.

DevOps promotes a culture of efficiency, transparency, and accountability, pushing teams to prioritize speed while maintaining quality. By optimizing the entire software development pipeline, DevOps ensures rapid and reliable releases, meeting the demands of fast-paced development environments.

Integration With Cloud and Modern-Day AI Systems

DevOps integration with modern cloud and AI systems is highly beneficial. Cloud platforms offer scalable infrastructure, making it easier to implement DevOps practices. According to a report by Flexera, around 92% of the organizations have employed multi-cloud strategies and are using DevOps for optimized cloud utilization, scaling, and resource management. [2]

AI augments DevOps by automating anomaly detection, predictive maintenance, and code analysis tasks, and its market size will grow by 38% from 2023 to 2032 [3]. The synergy boosts operational efficiency, accelerates software delivery, and enables more agile responses to changing business needs, making DevOps a vital asset in the cloud and AI technologies era.

Efficient Automations

DevOps ensures efficient automation through its core collaboration, integration, and delivery principles. By fostering seamless communication and cooperation between development and operations teams, DevOps accelerates the integration of automation into the software development lifecycle.

This collaborative approach ensures automated processes are designed, tested, and deployed efficiently. Continuous integration practices, where code changes are frequently merged and tested, enable early detection of automation issues. Additionally, DevOps emphasizes the automation of repetitive tasks such as testing, deployment, and infrastructure provisioning, reducing manual errors, improving efficiency, and ultimately enhancing the quality and speed of software delivery.

The Bottom Line

DevOps is one of the most used methodologies in the IT industry, aiming to improve collaboration between the development and operation-handling teams. However, the no-code platforms popped up since DevOps application development approaches may prove difficult.

These platforms are significantly easier to use but aren't as versatile as DevOps. Moreover, DevOps ensures more tailored outputs, faster releases, and wide learning opportunities, so it will continue to evolve and expand in the future rather than becoming obsolete.

Statistics links

[1] https://www.strongdm.com/blog/devops-statistics

[2] https://www.copado.com/blogs/how-using-a-multi-cloud-architecture-can-increase-agility-and-minimize-risk#:~:text=According to the Flexera 2021,have embraced multi-cloud strategies.

[3] https://marketresearch.biz/report/generative-ai-in-devops-market/#:~:text=Global Generative AI in DevOps Market size is expected to,period from 2023 to 2032.

Research links

https://devops.com/why-devops-will-cease-to-exist/

https://www.techtarget.com/searchitoperations/feature/Is-DevOps-dead-What-the-future-of-DevOps-could-look-like

https://www.knowledgehut.com/blog/devops/future-of-devops

https://thechief.io/c/editorial/does-devops-have-a-future/

https://www.bunnyshell.com/blog/is-noops-the-end-of-devops/