Because if something breaks, all teams will be unable to deliver software. This external party can advise on DevOps practices, encourage the use of automation, monitoring and configuration management and foster collaboration between teams. This is usually a temporary setup - as teams would be expected to slowly transition https://globalcloudteam.com/devops-team-structure-secrets-of-successful-implementation/ to another, more permanent structure. Instead of having separate teams for development, UI/UX, QA, and operations, you should bring this talent together into a cross-functional team. A cross-functional setup can ensure that all aspects of the software development lifecycle are considered and addressed.

Although the outcomes of this dedicated team can be beneficial in terms of an improved tool chain, its impact is limited. The fundamental problem of lack of early Ops involvement and collaboration in the application development lifecycle remains unchanged. The DevOps Team Silo (Anti-Type B) typically results from a manager or exec deciding that they “need a bit of this DevOps thing” and starting a ‘DevOps team’ (probably full of people known as ‘a DevOp‘). The members of the DevOps team quickly form another silo, keeping Dev and Ops further apart than ever as they defend their corner, skills, and toolset from the ‘clueless Devs’ and ‘dinosaur Ops’ people.

Anti-Pattern #1: Separate Silos

DevOps developers produce code, then work alongside other teams to integrate it, test it, and deploy it. BMC works with 86% of the Forbes Global 50 and customers and partners around the world to create their future. Provide the infrastructure and automation tools that the business developers require for releasing and supporting the code themselves.

• Breaking the routine of going to the same office as the rest of your team can be tricky and requires a strong distributed team, the right tools, and lots of training.
• These objectives are often somewhat lofty, but the whole point is to encourage a push towards a little something extra.
• Teams can build the DevOps toolchain they want, thanks to integrations with leading vendors and marketplace apps.
• His specialties are IT Service Management, Business Process Reengineering, Cyber Resilience and Project Management.
• Instead, with DevOps, the team who comes up with an idea for an improved software should also build the software and run the software.

The lack of automation isn’t clear during regular operation, but it takes a long time to deploy a fix when you discover a critical production issue. Often they are just passionate about the broader software delivery process and want to improve it. You can use DevOps PATHS to detect common accidental team structures to fix and avoid long-term problems.

A new normal for DevOps teams

As Jim Benson says in The Collaboration Equation, ‘individuals in teams create value’. Individual skill combined with collaboration is where great things happen. Underperforming teams happen when you don’t build in the need for people to work together to unlock their unique talents. In other words, rather than assigning DevOps responsibilities to any of your employees, you would work with an external business to add DevOps techniques and practices to your IT strategy. The major risk here is that, without assigning primary responsibility for DevOps to anyone in particular, there's a chance that no one will actually do DevOps.

While automation is crucial, a truly exceptional DevOps team goes beyond that by fostering effective collaboration and communication among team members. It’s important to remember that even with a robust DevOps team structure, your organization needs to have a solid backup plan for when things don’t go exactly right. This approach is brilliant for teams who cannot change rapidly and is designed to slowly instil the DevOps philosophy into existing teams. This team is still considered a development team and follows established practices such as Test-Driven Development, Continuous Integration, iterative development, mentorship, etc. One of the most significant factors to DevOps success is fostering a culture of teamwork and collaboration within your teams.

Bridging the Gap: From DevOps to SRE

Throughout the board, team designers should look for a cross-functional blend of expertise and talent. A DevOps team member must have good communication skills, technical knowledge, and a collaborative approach. Ops professionals need to feel comfortable pairing with Devs and familiarize themselves with test-driven coding and Git practices. Conversely, Devs must prioritize operational features and actively seek input from Ops personnel for logging implementations and other related tasks. All of these requirements necessitate a cultural shift from the practices of the recent past.

Not only that, but because each team owns a certain aspect of the project, there is code ownership for any defects, maintenance, and fixes that are required. With this structure, the team is formed to collaborate better around deliverables, like product designs or how to release applications. The structure of DevOps teams can influence how effectively they work together, the speed that they can deliver a quality product, and the longevity of the knowledge that exists within a team, among other things.

Common DevOps team structures

But defining the correct organizational structure is a little more difficult than explaining the role and makeup of the team. There are a lot of different ways to position DevOps within the organization, and what works in one environment doesn’t always fit the needs or culture of another. If sufficient individuals begin to recognize the benefits of unifying Dev and Ops functions, the temporary team stands a genuine opportunity to accomplish its objective.

Where operations people have been integrated in product development teams, we see a Type 2 topology. There is so little separation between Dev and Ops that all people are highly focused on a shared purpose; this is arguable a form of Type 1 , but it has some special features. This anti-type is typical in organizations with low engineering maturity. They want to improve their practices and reduce costs, yet they fail to see IT as a core driver of the business. Because industry successes with DevOps are now evident, they want to "do DevOps" as well.

How Do You Create a Highly Effective DevOps Team

An example of how this looks in practice can be illustrated with one of our customers, Cox Automotive. The automobile dealer and buyer witnessed significant growth after acquiring over 20 companies. They had minimal IT resources and their DevOps practice was not as effective as expected.

Collaboration between the Dev and SRE teams primarily revolves around operational considerations. Once the SRE team approves the code, they assume the responsibility of supporting it in the Production environment, relieving the Dev team from that duty. In firms with a significant gap between Dev and Ops or a tendency towards such a gap, establishing a "facilitating" DevOps team can be an effective approach.