Lessons gleaned from DevOps can be used to make organizations more resilient for future pandemics and crises. Here’s how…
According to the publication Fortune, 94% of the Fortune 1000 companies experienced some form of supply chain disruptions as a result of the pandemic.
Fortunately, having spent years collaborating and automating within the tech stack, DevOps teams were more than prepared for this, and firms are now realizing what these teams and their philosophy bring to the table with regard to business resilience.
What organizations cannot afford to do is to let this momentum die once the pandemic becomes a thing of the past. How can this momentum be sustained?
Key lessons from the pandemic
During the past two years, teams with the right DevOps culture were found in some surveys to be ‘half as likely to experience burnout during the pandemic’. Lesson: maintaining service delivery has always been part of their work philosophy.
Furthermore, DevOps teams are used to autonomy and working across a distributed network. Lesson: With checks and balances already baked into their workflow, these teams were able to transition to remote work with minimal disruptions, all while keeping the business going.
Since 2020, organizations have also developed a newfound appreciation for the agile methodology and the value it adds to the business. Agile project management differs from traditional approach in that it encourages teams to embrace change. Instead of seeing disruptions (like the pandemic) as hurdles, the agile mindset trains people to identify opportunities. Lesson: The Agile mind encourages teams to work in small iterations, seek continual feedback and discover areas of improvement along the way.
Another lesson: The agile mindset sees ‘mistakes’ and ‘failures’ as learning opportunities. This gives workers the safety and freedom to try new things, experiment with new ideas and learn from these experiences — all critical values during a pandemic, when everything is in a constant state of flux.
By taking a page from every lesson, organizations can now emulate the agile mindset to maintain the change momentum for the long haul.
Building on agility and resilience
Ultimately, what sets a successful company apart in difficult times is its people, or people with the right agile mindset, to be precise.
The human factor is truly what will withstand the test of time, so:
- Spread the DevOps culture: The DevOps culture does not have to exist solely within DevOps teams. Its core values and mindsets can be imbibed by any team in the organization. For example, agile frameworks like Scrum are becoming more commonplace in organizational tasks, even among teams with little to no links with IT. Understanding and adapting agile principles to other areas of the business can greatly improve the productivity and efficiency of entire teams.
- Continue to invest in tools and people: EY has noted that 92% of firms had forged ahead with their technology investments despite economic uncertainties. Organizations must not forget that people are the assets driving the business. Aside from technology investments, there will also be an increased need for multidisciplinary IT professionals, according to DevOps Institute.
- Continue to accelerate with DevOps: Organizations are going to face new challenges and disruptions even after the current pandemic. The value of DevOps teams and the agile mindset will empower organizations to shift en masse to automated software deployment, which brings higher accuracy and practicality at lower maintenance costs.
Finally, embrace a culture of change:Agility at the workplace, as DevOps teams have demonstrated throughout the pandemic, means to embrace change, seek opportunities in disruptions, collaborate for growth and ensure business continuity. While it is important to invest in the right tools, the latter also evolve over time—what is relevant now may become obsolete in the near future, sometimes even overnight. However, the right agile mindset is a solid foundation to build upon.
