DevOps is back with a brand new solution

If you hail from the generation before Gen X, you might remember how Vanilla Ice sampled the bassline from Queen’s "Under Pressure" in a completely different genre to appeal to the next generation. No matter what your personal feelings are about Gen X’s reuse, the opening line of Ice, Ice, Baby is a good reminder of the culture shift that is necessary for DevOps to succeed. DevOps teams need to collaborate with and listen to teams from across the business and reduce friction points that might arise from different tools.

Project requirements can come from various teams, including the business, security, operations, testing, and more. Understanding and prioritizing these requirements is necessary to inform continuous improvement instead of bogging down the development cycle. One tool that ReleaseTeam customers use for recording and tracking requirements across teams is Jira, which is also great for project management.

After you gather requirements, project and time management are essential to keep development and stakeholders on schedule. Tempo Timesheets integrates with Jira to improve time tracking directly from the same tool DevOps teams use for project management. It further simplifies work for the accounting team by enabling reports for accurate invoicing and accounting for all DevOps work.

Collaboration helps teams and management across the organization share information, provide feedback, and handoff between teams. Collaborative tools include instant messaging, web conferencing, email, and documentation. What kind of collaboration tools are you using in your organization to keep teams aligned and informed?

Approvals may be required from management, customers, procurement, and other teams. With the right DevOps planning and implementation, certain approvals can be automated according to established parameters.

Analytics tools can guide what parts of the product the DevOps team will focus on next but can also be used by marketing and sales teams to discover what is important to customers. More informed discussions will help uncover customer needs and boost sales.

We’ve mentioned a few tool categories and even a few specific examples, but there’s no single DevOps tool that works for all organizations. Be sure to evaluate tool options and validate that they will work for your teams and environment. One thing we can all agree on? It’s good that Vanilla Ice’s style is no longer in fashion.