Weekly Top 10: What’s Next in DevOps  

Welcome to another round-up of the latest news in DevOps, Agile and Continuous Delivery. This week’s blog focuses on some of the emerging trends that have been burgeoning since the end of 2016 and beginning of 2017. One trend that has seen considerable attention is microservices . While microservices and containers pose some challenges, some organizations have already been realizing their benefits and are moving away from monolithic architecture. Also in 2016 we saw the rise of DevOps practices in industries like retail, automotive and financial services. This week’s news covers how DevOps practices can help FinServ organizations measure the appropriate KPI’s for software delivery and business success. Continue reading for more on the latest modern software delivery news and trends, and, as always, stay tuned to all the news coming from @ElectricCloud on DevOps and Continuous Delivery throughout the week.

1Limit System Downtime With Automation, Increased Security

By @clivel_98 | Published on @TechTarget http://searchdatacenter.techtarget.com/tip/Limit-system-downtime-with-automation-increased-security With so many business processes now dependent on technology, IT system downtime can bring an enterprise to its knees. Although guaranteed 100 percent uptime is still not possible, old targets of 99 percent are still too low. Understand all the dependencies in any IT process and plan for redundancy to maintain as much uptime as possible. Address individual component failures through standard approaches to equipment redundancy. If you apply component-based redundancy on a per-subsystem basis, you'll open the possibility to miss something.

Limit system downtime with #automation , increased #security (CloudBees Flow can help!) https://t.co/PWelthPQYU #DevOps @clivel_98 @TechTarget pic.twitter.com/jMkasgsv3Q

— CloudBees (@electriccloud) February 15, 2017

2Monolithic vs. Microservice Architectures for Innovation

By @PeterBNichol | Published on @CIOonline http://www.cio.com/article/3163169/it-industry/monolithic-vs-microservice-architectures-for-innovation.html Batch processing and offline maintenance are terms once feared as much as memory and computer power were yesterday. The eruption of microservices and similar technological advances has changed our perception of what is possible. A trend has emerged, and it’s the opposite of what convention would tell us. Companies are first building out technical capabilities using a "monolith first" strategy for developing codebases. Monolith-first applications are made up of modules forming software applications that are not independent of the core application. This strategy is later followed by transitioning these monolithic structures into more scalable microservice architectures.

Monolithic vs. #microservice architectures for #innovation https://t.co/6ngIt1Kntd @CIOonline @PeterBNichol pic.twitter.com/RTN92yo0li

— CloudBees (@electriccloud) February 2, 2017

3The Case For Digital Reinvention

By Jacques Bughin, Laura LaBerge & Anette Mellbye| Published on @McKinsey http://www.mckinsey.com/business-functions/digital-mckinsey/our-insights/the-case-for-digital-reinvention As new markets emerge, profit pools shift, and digital technologies pervade more of everyday life, it’s easy to assume that the economy’s digitization is already far advanced. According to our latest research, however, the forces of digital have yet to become fully mainstream. On average, industries are less than 40 percent digitized, despite the relatively deep penetration of these technologies in media, retail, and high tech.

The case for #digital reinvention https://t.co/W8WLuORLdb #Tech @McKinsey

— CloudBees (@electriccloud) February 16, 2017

4Microservices and Docker at Scale

By @anders_wallgren | Published on @DZone https://dzone.com/articles/microservices-and-docker-at-scale Microservices and containers have recently garnered a lot of attention in the DevOps community. Docker has matured, and is expanding from being predominantly used in the Build/Test stages to Production deployments. Similarly, microservices are expanding from being used mostly for green field web services to being used in the enterprise — as organizations explore ways to decompose their monolith applications to support faster release cycles.

#DevOpsGuide Pick: “Microservices and Docker at Scale” by @anders_wallgren of @electriccloud https://t.co/q1aPthPYkG

— DZone (@DZone) February 7, 2017

5The Real ROI of DevOps

By @dromologue | Published on @JAXenterCOM https://jaxenter.com/real-roi-devops-131520.html Measuring the Return on Investment (ROI) from DevOps is critical to convince organizations which are falling behind that they can still shift course, transform and head to the IT future. It is also essential for companies that are embracing the industry’s forward movement so they know if they’re on the right track and can keep turbo-charging their DevOps efforts.

The real ROI of DevOps https://t.co/Vr9ZDkMznA @JAXenterCOM @dromologue #DevOps #ROI pic.twitter.com/TgpYAL6sjR

— CloudBees (@electriccloud) February 3, 2017

6ITIL and DevOps – Archenemies or Complementary Models?

By Dave Blodgett| Published on @cioreview http://it-services.cioreview.com/cioviewpoint/itil-and-devops-archenemies-or-complementary-models-nid-23747-cid-20.html I recently read a blog post titled something “the death of ITIL.” The essence of the post was the suggestion that DevOps would essentially supplant the role of ITIL in high functioning organizations. Reading the blog post made me realize that the state of confusion around what DevOps is (and isn’t) might have finally reached its apex.

#ITIL and #DevOps - Archenemies or complementary models? https://t.co/pVBATM68xy @cioreview

— CloudBees (@electriccloud) February 16, 2017

72017 The Year of Software Measurement and Visibility?

By Vishal Bhatnaga | Published on @Finextra https://www.finextra.com/blogposting/13652/2017-the-year-of-software-measurement-and-visibility When we managers review our team’s performance, it’s our responsibility to follow a fair and objective process that uses quantitative data to ensure objectivity. IT in the financial services industry works differently. Ironically, given most financial services firms these days are essentially, software firms, the IT applications development & maintenance (ADM) teams integral to their success, usually don’t have an objective way to assess the performance of in-house ADM teams, leaving aside the external suppliers which many financial services organisations use to supplement their in-house skills.

2017 the year of software measurement and visibility? https://t.co/rUSJwvowO1 @Finextra #Software

— Steve Brodie (@stbrodie) February 6, 2017

8Tech-only Agile? You’re Going to Fail.

By @jboogie | Published on @Medium https://medium.com/@jboogie/tech-only-agile-youre-going-to-fail A Google search for “agile software development” returns over 13 million results. An Amazon search on the same phrase returns nearly 2,300 books. Clearly, there is no shortage of literature on how Agile should be implemented in your tech organization. For anyone who’s been working through an Agile transformation or is considering taking one on, this is the natural place to start. The bulk of the Agile canon will teach your teams to deliver higher quality code, faster.

Tech-only #Agile ? You’re going to fail. https://t.co/b53NNMpZOR @Medium @jboogie

— CloudBees (@electriccloud) February 8, 2017

9DevOps Transformation Headaches: Who You Gonna Call? Silo Busters

By @SGrotehans | Published on @ITProPortal http://www.itproportal.com/features/devops-transformation-headaches-who-you-gonna-call-silo-busters/ In the classic Ghostbusters movies para-psychologists save New York City from being overrun by ghosts. While there may well be some long-deceased software lurking on a dusty mainframe, today’s large organisations are not being held to ransom by ghosts but by the proliferation of data silos. Many of these new silos are an unexpected fall-out from the digital transformation drive that is sweeping big business. The task of silo busting just got tougher.

#DevOps transformation headaches: who you gonna call? Silo busters https://t.co/o1ijoeAkgh @ITProPortal @SGrotehans pic.twitter.com/hpBtVBbv9l

— CloudBees (@electriccloud) February 6, 2017

10DevOps Done Right: Creating a Collaborative and Supportive Business Culture

By @HelenRanger4 | Published on @ComputerWeekly http://www.computerweekly.com/feature/DevOps-done-right-Creating-a-collaborative-and-supportive-business-culture A happy, productive and high-functioning IT department, staffed with people who look forward to coming to work each day, is something all CIOs aspire to run. It is an aspiration, though, that many are doomed never to realise unless they are willing to commit to cultivating a good working culture , says Helen Beal, a DevOpsologist at London-based digital transformation consultancy, Ranger4.

#DevOps done right: Creating a collaborative and supportive #business culture https://t.co/s16gDoYraX @HelenRanger4 @Ranger4 @ComputerWeekly pic.twitter.com/opr5Dk3YdD

— DOES17 London (@DOES_EUR) February 6, 2017