DevOps vs Agile: Which is the Best Software Development Methodology?

The IT industry and Software Development have been one of the fastest-growing markets. No doubt, it has been adapting itself frequently to the market demands. DevOps and Agile are the names of adaptations in the software development process.

However, several doubts surround both Agile and DevOps – software development methodologies. What are Agile and DevOps all about? Which one is better? Which one to choose – Agile vs DevOps? What is the future?

As one of the most reliable customized software development companies, we understand the importance of choosing the right method during any software or product development. This is the reason we have written a dedicated article explaining each methodology and letting you know which to choose in particular conditions.

Let’s understand all of that today.

Basic Introduction

But first things first, DevOps and Agile are not a software or a tool. Yes, there are consists of tons of tools that come under DevOps and Agile methodologies for which one can get a certification, but Agile and DevOps in themselves are not some kinds of certification either.

So, what are DevOps and Agile?

DevOps and Agile are popular software development methodologies to take a product from the planning stage to software development to release cycles. Organizations adopt these methodologies to manage and improve the software development life cycle depending on the business goals.

While Agile and DevOps both intend for the same results, i.e. faster and better product release, they have significant differences as well.

What is DevOps?

DevOps is a combination of software development (Dev) and IT Operations (Ops).

Combining these two departments, which traditionally work in silos, is the groundbreaking feature of the DevOps culture. This way, it helps to understand the challenges of each other’s department that are genuinely innovative. Read here more about DevOps like how it works, principles, models, and methodologies.

Use-case

• Let’s say, Brian works in the software development team and Emily works in the operations team
• Brian has finished the programming and has given the codes to Emily to release
• But Emily can’t release the codes at that very moment because of some functional or technical issues
• When asked about the software delivery of the codes to both of them, the confusion and blame game in the work environment starts and we stuck in this situation

So, why did it happen?

This happened because Brian and Emily do not understand or consider the challenges each one faces in their functioning.

And that’s where the need for the DevOps development methodology arises.

DevOps working

Here’s a use case –

• If we talk only about the working structure of DevOps in simple terms, it’s similar to how a movie is made.
• To make and complete the movie project, everyone – the writer, director, actor, crew members, and editor, has to work in collaboration.
• They can’t work independently. Also, the feedback about the story of the film can be taken within the cast and crew only. It can’t be taken from the audience (customer feedback) until the release.
• Similarly, in a DevOps methodology, all the teams that come under the Developers umbrella (developers, testers) work in collaboration with all the teams that come under the Operations (security, server, back-up) umbrella to deliver the product.
• Also, in DevOps feedback and suggestions are taken from employees only.

The development and operations teams working together is the key feature of DevOps methodology, but that’s not all.

• DevOps heavily depends on test automation to deliver better and faster.
• DevOps’ encourages continuous deployment(CD), continuous integration(CI), and continuous delivery to achieve quicker releases, like several in a day.

We will discuss some other features as well later in the article. Now, we are going to understand the agile software development approach in detail.

What is Agile?

Agile is a dynamic software development approach prioritizing small, iterative changes, frequent testing, and customer collaboration to create high-quality software.

The agile approach encourages flexible responses to change. And promotes adaptive planning, evolutionary development, fast delivery, and continual improvement.

• Let’s take a situation. Sophia, in the software development team, has planned and started working on the software development of a highly complex project.
• After she has done everything, she runs the software and shows it to her senior (who handles project management) or customer.
• However, she is given feedback wherein crucial changes in the software are required and she has to go all over again (start from scratch) to implement those changes.
• Even though she delivered on time, it’s of no use.
• This is the traditional software development method called waterfall model.
• The problems in the waterfall model demanded the need for a new model, which we call the Agile framework/approach.

Agile is a framework/approach that believes in enabling communication between developers and customers and reacting positively to the changes in any stage of the development. Among the 12 principles in “The Agile Manifesto for Software Development”, customer satisfaction, welcoming change, and delivering frequently are the first three principles. Ultimately, the Agile principles and framework/approach give an extremely strong product based on heavy programming.

Use-case

Let’s understand the structure of the Agile approach with an example.

• When interior designers design a home, they are always in touch with the homeowner.
• The designers understand the owner’s requirements thoroughly.
• Still, they keep taking continuous feedback and suggestions from the owner.
• They are ready for a change at any level if the owner doesn’t like something.
• This keeps happening until the home is designed according to the owner’s expectations.
• The way interior designers work with the homeowner is similar to the way the Agile framework works with the customer’s needs.
• Agile framework believes in keeping in touch with the customers (customer collaboration), never lagging with the consumer trends, and welcoming constant changes in the development stage of the product.

To achieve this, Agile promotes working in iterations. The whole development phase is divided into small iterations which is a major upgrade from the waterfall method.

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DevOps vs Agile – Key Differences

1. DevOps strategy is to focus on the working culture between development and operations to improve speed and efficiency.

   While Agile software development is a framework that works with the customers and internal team members to develop a highly customer-centric product.

2. In the DevOps structure, employee feedback is taken.

   While in the Agile framework customer feedback is of vital importance.

3. Under DevOps radar, there is a significantly larger team working.
   While the Agile framework promotes working in small software development teams.
4. DevOps is concerned more about daily deliveries (continuous delivery).
   Agile, on the other hand, emphasizes incremental iterations or sprints to deliver.
5. DevOps structure diminishes the scope of blame game between different departments.
   In Agile, the scope of the blame game remains there, as the developers and operations team work in silos.
6. DevOps expands the focus of the employee from project goals to organizational goals.
   Agile prepares an employee to understand the customer’s need.
7. In DevOps, continuous monitoring schemes are required.
   In the case of Agile, it welcomes change at every stage to create a solid product at the end.
8. DevOps aims to achieve cost-cutting with its daily deliveries.
   Agile focuses more on waste reduction.

Here, you might have understood the difference between DevOps and Agile, DevOps primarily focuses and works on projects depending on the feedback from the internal team. Whereas, Agile focuses on customer-driven feedbacks and improves the software accordingly. Generally, DevOps is chosen when you want to develop the product in a limited time. On the other side, Agile works best when a dedicated development team is assigned to work on a single project.

DevOps vs Agile – Competitive Difference Between Agile and DevOps

When to Choose DevOps For Development?

To zero in on DevOps, you need to first understand the needs of your company and the product owner.

• DevOps is a software development methodology that directs focus on communication, collaboration, and continuous integration among the IT team to enable continuous and rapid deployment of products.Is your organization failing to achieve that or looking to improve it? Then you need DevOps.
• DevOps is all about collaboration between the Development and Operations team. So that code deployment and production are faster and automated.Is there friction between your development and operations team or you’re aiming to improve their collaboration? Then you need DevOps.
• DevOps also helps you increase your applications/services delivery speed.Does that look like your goal (which it should)? Then you need DevOps.When the organization becomes huge, and enormous trust has been built with its customers, they naturally shift to DevOps, but not all.Many tech giants have adopted the DevOps methodology, while they initially started in traditional ways.Why do they shift to DevOps culture? To handle the constant pressure of releasing the products while not losing the customer either.But there is no thumb rule to this. Any organization can implement this model.

When to Choose Agile For Development?

• Agile methodology is based on continuous cycles of development processes and testing in the software development life cycle. The methodology also breaks the product into several small pieces to integrate them for testing.If it’s important for you to not make irreversible developments, then the Agile development process is for you. When you are in the stage of building trust among your customers or if you serve small and medium enterprises where you have to understand their changing needs, you can opt for Agile methodology.The agile framework focuses on faster delivery and being in touch with the customers’ needs at every level.

Conclusion

Choosing between Agile and DevOps doesn’t depend on which one is better, rather it depends on what is your status? Are you a big enterprise or a small business? Are you a new organization or old in the game? Are you in the business of software development or your business is dependent on software applications? What problems are you facing currently with your software development and maintenance? Is it handling too much traffic? Is it outdated?

There are a lot of questions you should ask yourself and a lot of factors you should consider before deciding the shift to DevOps work culture. The Agile frame and the DevOps methodology both dream of a solid end product. Neither is bad or better.

In case, if you have a project in mind that you want to discuss with technical experts and get the right solution, then contact us. We are a leading mobile app and custom software development company in Canada with a team of experienced designers and developers.