Can Enterprise Agile Lifecycle Management Software Merge with DevOps

Lately, DevOps has become an overloaded buzzword that has a lot of different meanings amongst the population. That becomes a challenge when you are trying to define the term or understand what it means. DevOps is the offspring of another term whose meaning eludes many people too: Agile. Simply put, Agile is a software development tool, and since its inception, it has achieved throughput in the software development process.  

Agile development is the term used to refer to a group of iterative and incremental software delivery methods. Popular Agile methods include Extreme Programming (XP), Lean Development, Scaled Agile Framework (SAFe), Kanban, and Scrum. Agile methods have led to the increase of software velocity, and the advancement in Agile methods and the overall culture has laid bare the growing need for an all-encompassing approach to the end to end software development cycle.

Agile and DevOps Work Together

Agile methods are used to empower people to collaborate and make effective decisions together, faster. All Agile methodologies share common core values and a common vision despite the fact that each method is unique in its specific approach. They are inherently adaptable and when compared to traditional water-style processes, very lightweight.

Agile methods involve many forms of continuous evolution of both the software and the project. Some of these include continuous integration, continuous testing, and continuous planning. Agile incorporates iterations and the subsequent continuous feedbacks provided with the goal of refining and delivering software development.

The term DevOps, on the other hand, refers to an IT approach that eggs on automation, integration, collaboration, and communication among software development teams and IT operations with the goal of improving the quality and speed of software delivery.  DevOps ideals further streamline the movement of software change through the building, validation, deployment, and delivery stages thereby extending Agile development practices.

Merging Agile and DevOps

DevOps empowers cross-functional teams by supporting them from design through to production with full ownership of the software. DevOps ensures that nothing is thrown over the wall. An Agile lifecycle management software is a set of tools designed to help Scrum Masters, product owners, and project managers keep focus in the process of developing a product that meets the needs of the customer.

An Agile lifecycle management software can be installed or hosted. It helps in the centralization of files, user communication, integration of applications, automation of tasks, presentation of information, and data collection. An Agile lifecycle management software is critical to the process of unifying Agile and DevOps. Merging Agile and DevOps brings the best of both worlds together vis-à-vis tackling business problems, but it’s not always so easy to do that. A couple of challenges may present themselves.

The challenges facing the merging of Agile and DevOps are more pronounced at an enterprise level. This situation is attributable to limitations of the enterprise lifecycle management software, but that is contingent on the software itself. Note that the software doesn’t make the marriage between Agile and DevOps impossible, but just a little difficult. Most of the issues arising from an Agile lifecycle management software can be worked out.