How DevOps can be useful for startups?

Every man and his dog has already heard about the DevOps approach to software development. You might know that it is the most powerful tool in the software development area. DevOps philosophy includes working with great complicated tools like Kubernetes, Terraform, Jenkins and others, along with working with the teams on their cohesiveness.

There is an opinion that DevOps is needed only for big companies with complicated systems and huge projects. So, a lot of business owners think about DevOps as some future changings. That’s why startups often refuse to implement this methodology in the early stages. This is a mistake because the earlier you implement DevOps services in your processes, the smoother the software development will be from the start.

Stages of DevOps implementation

We offer you to look at the process of DevOps transformation for a better understanding of the whole picture.

  1. Assessment. When we talk about the working system, the DevOps team should evaluate the current state of infrastructure and make a transformation plan.
  2. Roadmap. After doing the assessment and approximate plan, the DevOps team creates the roadmap oriented on your goals and needs.
  3. Cloud migration and/or infrastructure redesigning. If we talk about some legacy systems, there might be a place for the whole redesign of the current system before cloud migration. The more software you use, the more conflicts might arise. The challenge is to synchronize the cloud versions with the on-prem versions of the tools you have – or replace outdated software with modern cloud-based analogs. So, you might need a redesign of the current infrastructure. After that, cloud migration starts. If there are no problems with software versions, the process will be quite fast.
  4. Implementing of the DevOps as is. Only after all the above steps, DevOps can be implemented. At this step, the DevOps team provides such processes as Infrastructure as Code (IaC), Continuous Integration and Continuous Delivery (CI/CD), and others. The IaC allows your software development team to work more efficiently.  In this case, a DevOps engineer creates a cloud environment and make settings for a manifest. The developers will have the ability to change the deployment environment by changing a few words in a special textual file called the manifest. The CI/CD is a process allowing frequent releases because of the changed approach to software development. The code is written in small parts that are easily and automatically tested. That’s why deploy can be very fast.
  5. Work with teams. The last but not the least is the work with teams. You might implement the greatest processes and the most powerful tools but it wouldn’t work without changing the internal approach and communication in the software development team. The DevOps is often called culture and it is not just a word. This methodology includes great work with the team and changes the relationship between team members.

As you can see, the DevOps transformation is really a “heavy” process. Thar’s why, if you implement it from the start, you have fewer challenges in the future. The smaller your company is, the easier the DevOps transformation will be.

Does DevOps really help startups?

Yes, DevOps methodology can really help startups because it will save a lot of costs from start. In the case of a limited budget, it is a very important feature. Also, the DevOps approach significantly reduces time-to-market and that is extremely important for startups. So, it is efficient from both the business side and the technology side.

Wrapping up, we can say that the DevOps approach is a great investment in your business, especially in the startup stage.