6 Challenges to DevOps Adoption & How to Overcome Them

Embracing the DevOps model is not a choice but a necessity for organizations if they have to stay afloat in the sea of competition. Although DevOps provides immense scope for innovation and productivity, implementing it on an organizational level is easier said than done.

According to The Upskilling 2020: Enterprise DevOps Skills Report released by DevOps Institute, more than 50% of organizations find DevOps transformation very difficult.

Here, we present before you the six main challenges that companies face while adopting DevOps practices. The best solutions for overcoming these challenges are also discussed.

1. Continuing with the Use of Legacy Infrastructures

Legacy systems, that are basically monolithic, might have helped your organization to build successful products in the past. But, in a competitive environment where consumer needs are rapidly changing, such rigid systems can create stability and performance issues and eventually, pose a roadblock to successful DevOps implementation.

 Solution:

Outdated, legacy infrastructures must be replaced with latest innovative technologies  like Infrastructure-as-Code solutions and Microservices; these modern systems  accelerate the SDLC processes, provide agility and help apps to scale easily.

2. The Development vs. Operations Conundrum

The fundamental concept of the DevOps culture envisages a collaborative atmosphere between the development and operations teams. But this is hardly a reality in most IT organizations. 

While the development team focuses on creating the product in a shorter time span, the operations team relies on lengthy procedures to attain perfect results. This kind of inconsistency causes inordinate delay in launching the product and may even interfere with its quality.

Solution:

Development and operations teams must agree on aligning and prioritizing work processes towards achieving common goals. Open communication should be inculcated whereby, both the teams get to know and understand each other’s work progress in real time.

3. Focusing Excessively on Tools 

Most companies tend to give too much importance to numerous flashy tools while transitioning to DevOps. Employees search for the ideal tool-set, thus wasting their time which they could have utilized for completing and executing their core tasks. 

Solution:

The team must be the top priority; not tools. First, prepare a roadmap of the various processes that the team has to follow. Once the processes are defined, you can choose the right tools that are a must-have in your arsenal and subsequently, train your team members for handling them.

4. Sticking on to a Siloed Culture

Traditional software development involved a completely siloed culture where teams were segregated based on the type of work they did — design, development, testing, etc. Since such an organizational culture is still followed in many companies, it becomes difficult to integrate teams for DevOps projects.

Solution:

DevOps aims to break down silos and bring in a collaborative and transparent culture that ensures a smooth CI/CD. Though a sudden culture shift is not possible, you can slowly start building cross-functional teams for upcoming projects so that employees can work and learn in a collaborative environment.

5. Neglecting Automation 

Automating development and operations-related tasks is still considered a luxury by many IT organizations. Even those that claim to implement automation, tend to procrastinate it to the later stages of the project cycle. 

Solution:

Manual and repetitive tasks have to be automated, no matter what. Most importantly, a solid test automation strategy has to be planned out because it accelerates  continuous testing, integration and deployment processes, and improves team productivity and product quality. 

In short, automation helps in testing complete project code within a matter of hours, instead of weeks.

Last, but not the least,

6. The Reluctance to Accept Change

Moving out of one’s comfort zone is something that the human brain can’t accept so easily. That’s why the idea of adopting the DevOps approach overnight may not be welcomed by team members and top stakeholders. It can create panic and may adversely affect product development.

Solution:

The key is to bring in the change gradually, in a phased manner. Instead of overwhelming employees with a huge DevOps project, allow them to implement the strategy in the simpler parts of an existing application. 

In this way, they will slowly get accustomed to the various DevOps practices and will adopt the approach for future projects.

Conclusion

It’s true that DevOps adoption is not a smooth process; but, by circumventing the above obstacles, your organization can reap the benefits of the speed and agility that this model offers.

And, by joining hands with the best app development company, that has implemented DevOps practices in its work culture, you can build innovative products in record time.