What is DevOps and how does Prism Digital implement DevOps into their work place and practices?
By: Prism Digital
Tags: Tech Recruiting, Best Practices, DevOps, Winops, Cloud Computing

What is DevOps and how does Prism Digital implement DevOps into their work place and practices? Prism Digital Oct 22, 2020·6 min read

There are various camps in the industry, all with strong views on the topic. To weigh in on the debate we first need to explain what DevOps means.

History of DevOps

In the simplest of terms, DevOps brings together two formerly separate roles — Developers and Operations — i.e. those creating (or developing) the platform environments and those in charge of implementing its use. Evolving from the Agile methodology, which addressed the gaps in communication between end users and the software developers, DevOps is said to close that same gap between those developing software and the people who utilise it and implement it into real-world applications, to serve the end user.

Bringing together the two processes into one role and under one umbrella means reducing the timescale of projects, improving communication of need and process, and streamlining many of the processes in IT Development, and led to solutions such as Cloud, AWS, SaaS and IaaS becoming commonplace. The consistent theme for all of these acronyms is ‘service’ — and we know that DevOps specialists have great service in mind throughout the process of Development and creation of any new tech.

How do DevOps Leaders Describe DevOps?

DevOps pioneer, Patrick Debois refers to Dev and Ops in two ways:

1. DevOps: collaboration, optimization across the whole organisation. Even beyond IT (HR, Finance…) and company borders (Suppliers)

2. DevOps ‘lite’ : when people zoom in on ‘just’ dev and ops collaboration.

Debois states, “New names will survive only if they make sense. I have seen DevDesignOps, NoOps, FrontEndOps, and other variations. They are useful because it helps to create a new mindset or ideas. You must be aware that whenever a new idea or buzzword comes around, like DevSecOps or SRE, there’s value to it because it brings a new perspective to the table. It does not mean that DevOps as a term will exist forever. Some will say that what will survive is the delivery pipeline, and others will think broader. So, new terms will inspire new things to happen.”

Mandi Walls believes “DevOps is as much about culture as it is about tools”

Another legend Gene Kim states, “It’s really about enacting technology practices and architecture that help organizations create a very fast — or even continuous — product flow, from dev through testing through operations, all the way to deployment, while often increasing reliability, stability, and security.”

Jez Humble explains DevOps as “a cross-disciplinary community of practices dedicated to the study of building, evolving and operating rapidly-changing resilient systems at scale.”

John Willis, DevOps mastermind, puts it nicely: “…the establishment of this kind of culture within a company relies on five principles, based on the motto “Keep C.A.L.M.S. and carry on”. We agree and touch on this further on in the blog.

Our Brand New Commercial Products

In fact, our products are named after these DevOps legends above. You can take a look at our new products here.

Our product offerings are diverse and offer a wide range of services which cater to those clients who need a long-term all-encompassing service or for those who wish to have short term effective solutions.

Working with outstanding employers and the most skilled and experienced candidates, Prism Digital has always had a focus on implementing a DevOps culture throughout our client base, and we have the very latest DevOps candidates that are available. We are passionate about the ongoing and continuous improvements in technology, software, tools and processes which keep streamlining and improving the world of IT, both from the perspective of business and real-world interaction.

How We Can Help?

Positioning ourselves at the forefront of the implementation of DevOps culture means that we are always well positioned to pair the most experienced, skilled and passionate specialists into roles for our clients who will then benefit from a fast-moving, industry leading mentality and the latest developments in industry standards.

The CALMS Model is a conceptual framework used to assess a company’s readiness to adopt a DevOps process. CALMS stands for Culture, Automation, Lean, Measurement and Sharing. This is a good concept of the building blocks that facilitate organisations to embrace DevOps culture and practice and for DevOps Engineers to follow. We thought it would be a good idea to explore how Prism align to the CALMS model:

C — Culture: We are proud sponsors of two meet up groups (London DevOps & WinOps) and we organise WinOps Conf in collaboration with the DevOpsGroup — these all allow us to be constantly active in the community.

A — Automation: Using all the latest SaaS based tools such as Bullhorn CRM with its internal automation features and SourceBreaker AI

L — Lean: We pride ourselves on being a small boutique consultancy that can quickly adapt to our clients needs and the ever-changing market.

M — Measurement: Using Business Intelligence tools like Cube19 allows us to capture important data to ensure we are the best we can possibly be and this in turn helps us keep our clients up to date with progress.

S — Sharing: We share our own professional experiences via our corporate industry membership with the RDLC — which foundation is all about collaboration, tricks, preferred suppliers, open dialogue and knowledge sharing. Most recently we shared market insight on the hot topic of remote working and we’re looking forward to being able to socialise again with you like our End of Dry Jan party and Summer Parties.

Embracing DevOps — it's the way forward!

Though some in the industry are reluctant to embrace the DevOps methodologies, we recognise the importance and benefits of joined-up thinking and streamlining processes, which benefits the workers and the end users — and we implement this approach into our own delivery as well as the Consultancy support we offer to our Clients and Candidates.

DevOps engineers and specialist have a very strong understanding of the business, its goals and knowing where the pain points are. Knowledge of all these areas places them in the ideal position to make the teams work together effectively.

Like so many DevOps teams we also use the collaboration tool Trello. This tool allows us to manage projects but the main use is to keep track of the most up to date talented candidates.

Recruitment is far more than simply collecting CVs and booking interviews. Our process means truly understanding the goals, requirements and culture of our Client, and positioning the very best candidates into that environment, as well as consulting and offering development and growth opportunities to both sides. The success of recruitment depends on many factors, and we take great pride in maintaining a forward-thinking model with a big-picture mindset.

The culture of an organisation is a huge part of successful recruitment, and our own culture reflects the importance of this, with a caring, person-centric approach. We support our clients and the specialists we recruit, with ongoing development recommendations, conferences for our business community, and insight into the latest developments in IT, DevOps, Cloud and customer service across all departments. We are more than recruiters; we are Talent Partners.

Speak to our Talent Partner team today to learn more about the importance of DevOps in your organisation, how it could simplify and streamline your processes, save you time and money, and enable you to better meet your own client needs, as well as securing you the best, most skilled specialist to implement and complete that process.

Call me +44 203 800 1236 or email alex@prism-digital.com now to find out more.