What is the Difference Between DevOps and Agile?

You might ask which of the various components, processes, and approaches used in the software and application development industry is the best. Additionally, developers might ponder whether any of these ideas mesh well with one another.

We are here to decide that. As a result, today we'll look at two popular ideas in software development: Agile and DevOps. How do DevOps and Agile interact? Must they? Let's investigate!

We're checking to see if Agile and DevOps can work together well in terms of process and synergy. Therefore, if you currently believe that DevOps and Agile cannot coexist, be prepared to have your assumptions disproved.

But first, let’s reacquaint ourselves with these two extremely popular methodologies. If you’re never heard of or dealt with Agile and DevOps (is such a thing even possible??), you will find the following two sections particularly useful.

We begin with Agile in our effort to answer the question: how do Agile and DevOps interrelate?

Agile

If you want the best Agile definition, look no further than the source itself. According to Agile Alliance, Agile software development is “an umbrella term for a set of frameworks and practices based on the values and principles expressed in the Manifesto for Agile Software Development and the 12 Principles behind it.”

Agile focuses on the people who do the actual work and how they work as a team. Collaboration between cross-functional, self-organizing teams produces workable solutions. It’s a methodology that allows developers to easily adapt and respond to changes, hence why it was named “agile.”

The key to Agile’s success is delivering work in small, consumable increments rather than one massive product release. These smaller pieces make it easier to continuously evaluate requirements, plans, and results, making it easier for teams to respond to change quickly. For example, consider how easier it is to create a mid-course correction if a problem arises if the work is being done in gradual stages. It's certainly a better way than to spend all that time creating a complete release and only afterward realizing that there was an issue overlooked halfway through the development process.

Agile software development includes pair programming, test-driven development, stand-ups, planning sessions, and sprints. You also may hear more talk of Scrum in context with Agile development.

In summary, Agile is a mindset created to help developers produce better work faster and of better quality. So what is DevOps?

DevOps

On the other hand, DevOps is a collection of optimization techniques. Operations and development engineers collaborate through the whole service lifecycle, from the design to the development process and production support.

Its very name is a fusion of Development and Operations. DevOps knocks down the divide between process and production, offering ongoing management and deployment. DevOps has the operations staff use many of the same techniques in their systems work that developers use.

While “Dev” typically refers to developers, it covers all positions that have a hand in developing a product, including QA, Product, and other types of disciplines. “Ops,” on the other hand, refers to operations staff, systems engineers, release engineers, system administrators, network engineers, DBAs, security professionals, and other job titles or subdisciplines.

Ideally, bringing together Development and Operations promotes continuous integration and deployment, automated testing, and code repository transparency.

There is an apparent school of thought that claims that DevOps and Agile can’t work together. But, as we are about to see, nothing could be further from the truth.

How Do Agile and DevOps Interrelate? Process

For starters, let’s throw out the Agile vs. DevOps idea because it’s false. The chief difference between Agile and DevOps is that the former is an approach that emphasizes iterative development using independent, cross-functional teams. At the same time, the latter is a practice that moves Operations roles into Development, creating the basis for CI/CD (Continuous Integration and Continuous Delivery).

Rather than being in competition, Agile and DevOps complement each other when the goal is to develop better software releases with greater speeds.

Agile begins and finishes with development, while DevOps focuses on the relevant agents. DevOps begins the project with provisioning and orchestration and concludes it with continuous delivery, IT management, and monitoring.

Agile development is a group activity, and Scrum furnishes the framework for daily communications, which quickly brings to light any surface obstacles to the team’s progress on their objectives. Furthermore, customer stories can define the work done in two to four-week sprints. The stakeholders track the progress in periodic reviews, while team members offer honest, transparent feedback at the ceremonies that wrap up each sprint. Success depends on team members sharing their skills and expertise and feedback loops that boost development speed.

Or, to put this another way, Agile methodology revolves around people and their relationship with processes and resources. DevOps ensures that the appropriate business units receive the necessary technology and works without interruption or problems. First, DevOps sets up the parameters for software requirements, and then the Agile teams work on the development part. This way, DevOps builds the software that Agile teams will test, then deploy.

Let’s answer the question: how do Agile and DevOps interrelate.

Synergy: How Do Agile and DevOps Interrelate?

As we try to figure out how do Agile and DevOps interrelate, we need to visit the Software Lifecycle Process.  

What Agile Provides:

• Scrum team methods, discipline. Customer stories that guide and drive the work. Smaller projects. The team is free to explore and make mistakes sooner.
• Certified skills. Specialized job roles. A consistent set of governance and standards. Confidence in testing.
• Providing risk-free environments for experimentation and learning.
• Smaller pieces of code that can be eventually integrated into full programs. Separating development and deployments.
• Backlog management. Sprint ceremonies. The daily stand up. Team retrospectives. Additional customer stories.
• The process approach to skill development, managing work, software pipelines, and team contributions.

What DevOps Add:

• External feedback loops. Organization-wide engagement. Automation, fluid job roles, and microservices.
• Repetitive work is automated. Building better security literacy. Measure the compliance against established standards.
• Containers and remote source code repositories. Infrastructure as code. Protecting data pipelines.
• Automating the process for code integration into releases that are deployed as the business needs them.
• Automating the monitoring process, catching failures before they can affect customers. Compliance assurance.
• Tools and automation approach used to dislodge operations bottlenecks. Operational accountability in Development.

The Resultant Synergy of Agile and DevOps Combined

• Shorter build cycles. Transparency. Internal and external feedback. Operational awareness. Resource flexibility.
• More testing available across platforms. Security becomes a team responsibility. Sharing ownership.
• A scalable, secure, lean infrastructure. More developer engagement. Rapid provisioning.
• Software benefits from a shorter development and delivery life cycle. Increased reliability and sustainability. A safe and secure app pipeline.
• Optimizing the information flow so that failures won’t impact the customers’ experiences.
• Increased focus on team objectives and goals. Team members get upskilled. Modernized IT assets. Smoother, better collaboration.

The stakeholders expected new releases several times per day. Additionally, there is extreme pressure on the development teams to build more, better, and faster while not sacrificing quality, security, reliability, performance, or resilience. The Agile-DevOps synergy will help teams deal with these increased expectations and come out on top.

This synergy helps teams fulfill service level agreements, predict outcomes more accurately, and proactively address any backlog issues. Additionally, QA, automated testing, monitoring, and feedback ensure the claims are grounded in metrics and part of the continuous improvement landscape.

Agile Vs. DevOps Commonalities

Agile and DevOps both focus on speed, efficiency, and quality results throughout the software development lifecycle. They also focus on shorter release cycles. Both methodologies don't put much focus on documentation levels and instead spend more time on automation and collaboration. As projects progress, the risk level tends to decrease when using an Agile or DevOps approach, whereas risk tends to increase over time with other approaches like Waterfall.

If new business needs arise, both Agile and DevOps methodologies prepare organizations to be extremely responsive by addressing business needs immediately. Businesses that use either approach also typically have tighter ownership of their respective projects.

Agile and DevOps: Can They Be Used Together?

The good news is that it's not necessary to commit to one approach over another. A mix of both methodologies can be used to ensure increased efficiency. Both have major roles to play when it comes to software development and deployment, and one can be used to enable the other.

Would You Like to Be Certified in DevOps?

Whether it's used with Agile or not, DevOps is a popular methodology used by many organizations and businesses.  

The DevOps certification training helps you master the art and science of improving your entire team's development and operational activities. During your DevOps training, you will build expertise via hands-on projects in continuous deployment, using configuration management tools such as SaltStack, Ansible, and Puppet.

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