Many pitfalls exist when moving to a new development strategy and software delivery methodology. While a DevOps workflow does present the greatest ROI for organizations, any adoption of such an initiative requires detailed oversight and expert planning in order to ensure the successful execution of the project.

Specifically, traditional funding and monitoring activities may not suffice for a DevOps implementation. As the philosophy is radically different from other development models, the way public sector agencies allocate and track costs relating to the project’s performance may need to be adapted accordingly.

The Steps and Benefits of DevOps Implementation in an Organization

The good news is once you’ve decided to implement a DevOps strategy in your organization or agency, you’ve succeeded in successfully advocating for change. To guarantee the project’s success, you’ll want to follow a formalized DevOps lifecycle for the entire implementation. The organization should assemble a team who’ll take responsibility for the project, as well as understand every step and the costs associated with each element.

The project’s lifecycle steps start with a detailed assessment. Gaining insights on the exact requirements will assist with determining the implementation plan. Once you’ve documented the existing technology, processes, and workflows, you’ll be able to map out new tools and workflows for your Continuous Integration and Continuous Delivery (CI/CD) pipelines.

The next phase would be to implement a proof of concept, and once the technology achieves the stated goals, the team can build the environment. Finally, a cutover plan will assist the team in managing the organization-wide launch, then train and monitor the new environment before starting the closeout phase.

Budgeting for the Essentials in the DevOps Implementation Project

Quantifying the abstract steps into actual budget line items may seem daunting. Understanding that each phase will affect the project’s funding in different ways will help you establish the costing of the entire project.

Resource Allocation

Allocating resources with time weightings to the project starts in the assessment phase. Depending on the size and scope, the team may need to be dedicated to this initiative entirely. As the organization’s operations will need to continue uninterrupted, it may be necessary to augment staff with external experts to leverage the benefits of DevOps. Bringing in a single consultant early to assist with planning the entire project will ensure the team clearly understands each element required.

Technology Selection

Once again, the scope will inform the team about which tools will best serve the organization’s needs. Full-stack solutions such as Atlassian can provide a comprehensive suite of tools and include project management integrations like Tempo. During the proof of concept step, the team will test different tools and workflows, as well as establish most of the required automations. DevOps lifecycle solutions come with flexible licensing options, meaning the team can make use of trial versions or even select open-source tools for the project before deciding on the final technology stack.

Setting up the Environment

DevOps solutions leverage many technologies to reduce the infrastructure overhead required by the development and operations teams. These include containerized applications, serverless code, and microservices. The new DevOps environment will most likely reduce the required server and resource provisioning overhead but will need to operate concurrently with the existing environment until the cutover. Ensuring the team understands the costs associated with the environment early will aid in keeping the project within budget.

Training Staff

It’s important to educate staff throughout the organization on the new processes and tools deployed. The organization may opt to let staff learn on the fly, however building the training requirements into the planning stage will ensure a smooth closeout of the project. It will also prevent project costs ballooning if employees make a mistake that requires experts to rework and retrain them on the new solutions.

ReleaseTEAM’s DevOps Consulting Solutions

ReleaseTEAM provides veteran agile consultants who can assist your organization by establishing the exact costs and detail the requirements for each project step. As a complete DevOps solution partner, ReleaseTEAM provides consulting, staff augmentation, software development and licensing, as well as support services.

To start planning for your organization’s successful DevOps implementation project, get in touch with one of ReleaseTEAM’s experts at info@releaseteam.com or 866-887-0489 today.