12/14/23, 3:09 PM DevOps vs.
Agile Methodology: Key Differences and Similarities - Spiceworks
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DevOps vs. Agile Methodology: Ke
Differences and Similarities
DevOps enables collaboration between development and operation teams, wh
methodology makes developers and development cycles more efficient.
Remya Mohanan IT Specialist
Last Upda
https://www.spiceworks.com/tech/devops/articles/devops-vs-agile/ 2/17
12/14/23, 3:09 PM DevOps vs. Agile Methodology: Key Differences and Similarities - Spiceworks
DevOps and Agile are paving the way for advanced software development
practices in the modern world. DevOps enables collaboration between
development and operation teams, while the Agile methodology makes developer
and development cycles more efficient. While there are many notable differences
between Agile and DevOps, there also exist similarities that go hand-in-hand
with each of them. This article explains the similarities and differences between
Agile and DevOps in detail.
Table of Contents
What Are the DevOps and Agile Methodologies?
Key Similarities Between DevOps and Agile Methodology
Key Differences Between DevOps and Agile Methodology
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12/14/23, 3:09 PM DevOps vs. Agile Methodology: Key Differences and Similarities - Spiceworks
What Are the DevOps and Agile
Methodologies?
Both Agile and DevOps have their own strengths and drawbacks. Both are highly
reliable in their own ways, which is why it’s best to combine them. The goal is to
enhance overall productivity. Hence, teams should be able to take advantage of
both approaches to work faster and more efficiently. Let’s understand DevOps and
Agile methodologies in detail.
What is DevOps?
DevOps is a software development method that seamlessly aligns development an
IT operations in an organization to improve productivity and facilitate better
collaboration between teams. DevOps is the integration of people, processes,
practices, tools, and technology that enables code deployment in a robust and
automated manner.
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12/14/23, 3:09 PM DevOps vs. Agile Methodology: Key Differences and Similarities - Spiceworks
DevOps Lifecycle
Unlike traditional software development practices, DevOps is an ongoing process
of building, testing, deploying, and monitoring. Its main goal is to continuously
deliver quality software properly. Incorporating DevOps has several noteworthy
benefits, such as faster, reliable, and easily integrated deployments.
The principles of DevOps are based on six main ideologies: continuous integratio
continuous delivery, continuous testing, continuous deployment, continuous
operations, and continuous collaboration. Combining two distinct departments
and processes (development and operations) and bringing them together leads to
increased transparency and concentration on automated testing.
Jez Humble, the co-author of ‘The DevOps Handbook’, coined the acronym
“CALMS” for the DevOps framework. It stands for culture, automation, lean,
measurement, and sharing.
Culture symbolizes the cultural shift that occurs in an organization when
the
development and operations teams work together in unison.
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12/14/23, 3:09 PM DevOps vs. Agile Methodology: Key Differences and Similarities - Spiceworks
Automation refers to replacing manual tasks with automation, which
increases speed and promotes better product quality.
DevOps takes inspiration from lean principles of continuous improvement
and experimenting.
Measuring is the process of gauging results to improve quality.
Sharing refers to distributing responsibility amongst the development and
operation teams to troubleshoot problems and find solutions efficiently.
Also Read: What Is DevOps? Definition, Goals, Methodology, and Best
Practices
What is Agile?
The Agile methodology is a software development method that aligns itself with
the principles of the Agile Manifesto. It is an iterative approach to software
development and project management that focuses on collaboration between
cross-functional teams to find solutions, feedback from customers to improve
quality, and quick releases to meet deadlines.
Agile development breaks down processes into smaller units called ‘sprints’ that
typically last from two weeks to a month. The Agile methodology focuses on
incremental deployments of each sprint and integrating them for final testing. It
can be implemented using tools such as Kanban board, Scrum, XP, Active Collab,
etc.
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12/14/23, 3:09 PM DevOps vs. Agile Methodology: Key Differences and Similarities - Spiceworks
Agile Methodology
The four core values central to the Agile software development process are
explained below.
1. Individuals and interactions over processes and tools
The Agile Manifesto states the importance of valuing people over processes. It ha
been a common practice among many software organizations to pay more
attention to acquiring the best possible tools to build their software. However, eve
the greatest tools would fall flat in the hands of the wrong team. The key to succe
here is having the right team of individuals and encouraging them to communicat
and collaborate to cultivate a healthy work environment and tackle problems as
and when they arise.
2. Working software over comprehensive documentation
While documentation is important, it should not take center stage. In the past, it
was a common practice among many software teams to spend hours documenting
processes. The Agile Manifesto states that the highest priority should be given to
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12/14/23, 3:09 PM DevOps vs. Agile Methodology: Key Differences and Similarities - Spiceworks
delivering software to consumers rather than putting too much effort into
documentation instead of writing code and actually building the software.
3. Customer collaboration over contract negotiation
Previously, contracts were a big deal, and a lot of consideration and effort was put
toward writing them and negotiating the various terms and conditions. More ofte
than not, this led to miscommunication, as the contract stated one thing, the
product turned out to be another, and the customer’s requirement was something
else altogether. The Agile Manifesto states that continuous development and
continuous collaboration with customers is the best way to ensure a project’s
success.
4. Responding to change over following a plan
We all live in a dynamic world where customers’ priorities, needs, and preferences
shift rapidly over a period of time. Hence, now, more than ever, it’s crucial for
software teams to have a flexible and adaptable approach. The Agile Manifesto is
all about embracing and accepting mid-project changes for the betterment of the
overall project. Agile teams have the superlative ability to change course midway
instead of blindly following a rigid plan.
Also Read: Why Managed Kubernetes as a Service Should Be a Part of Your
DevOps Strategy
Key Similarities Between DevOps and
Agile Methodology
The fast pace of technological advancements and ever-growing customer demand
require organizations to continuously find newer approaches and solutions to
problems. That being said, it becomes vital for progressive fields such as IT
software development to adapt to changes and new situations.
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12/14/23, 3:09 PM DevOps vs. Agile Methodology: Key Differences and Similarities - Spiceworks
Agile was conceived out of the shortcomings of the waterfall method that couldn’
meet the demands of the modern world. Similarly, DevOps completes a missing
piece of the Agile methodology and takes it a step ahead by deploying the softwar
securely once it has been developed, something that Agile practices don’t look
after. This makes it safe to say that there are significant similarities between the
Agile methodology and DevOps, as one is a thoughtful progression of the other.
Key Similarities Between DevOps and Agile
1. Emphasis on testing & automation
DevOps and Agile are both focused on achieving stability. They do so by actively
operating in a fast, secure, and quality-assessed environment. Both methodologie
accomplish this through the integration of a great deal of testing on a routine
basis. They are similar in their beliefs of relying on automation to bring more
flexibility and security in the execution process.
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12/14/23, 3:09 PM DevOps vs. Agile Methodology: Key Differences and Similarities - Spiceworks
2. An inclination toward business productivity
Both DevOps and Agile work in tandem toward achieving one common goal for
businesses — maximizing productivity. DevOps and Agile share a similar business
inclined approach. Implementing the Agile methodology in the software
development process gives teams the time to concentrate on a single target,
leaving room for them to save time and be more productive. On the other hand,
incorporating the DevOps culture leads to quicker releases and delivery without
hampering business processes.
3. Paves the path for powerful partnerships
Even though DevOps and Agile may have a myriad of differences, both of them lay
a huge amount of significance on building a collaborative workplace, where team
members stay connected to share information, quickly detect issues, and
troubleshoot problems easily and conveniently. There is a huge emphasis on
interactions amongst team members and individuals to become more productive,
efficient, and responsive to change.
4. Draws inspiration from lean philosophies
DevOps and Agile share a common ground in terms of deriving their approaches
from the Lean philosophy. The Lean philosophy helps both DevOps and Agile
standardize their communication process and facilitate smooth interactions
amongst team members to create a healthy and productive work environment.
Also Read: What Is DevOps Lifecycle? Definition, Key Components, and
Management Best Practices
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12/14/23, 3:09 PM DevOps vs. Agile Methodology: Key Differences and Similarities - Spiceworks
Key Differences Between DevOps and
Agile Methodology
As highlighted above, there are a few similarities between DevOps and the Agile
methodology, but there are crucial differences between the two. Let’s understand
these differences in detail.
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12/14/23, 3:09 PM DevOps vs. Agile Methodology: Key Differences and Similarities - Spiceworks
Differences Between DevOps and Agile
Parameter DevOps Agile Methodology
Guiding DevOps is a culture where The Agile methodology is
Philosophy the development and a practice that looks after
operations teams perform continuously managing
as a single unit and and delivering small,
integrate their work to incremental changes of a
cultivate productivity and project through iterative
establish collaboration. development and ongoing
testing.
Focal Point & DevOps emphasizes The Agile methodology
Purpose continuous testing and primarily focuses on
rapid deliveries made constant changes and
every few hours or even incremental deployments
Also Read: How To Build and Design a Cloud-Native Software From Scratch
Takeaway
Although there are many evident differences between DevOps and the Agile
methodology, their overall goal of increasing speed and delivering quality softwar
is similar in nature. The great thing about DevOps and Agile practices is that they
can both coexist in the same universe. It is safe to say that one is incomplete
without the other, and it makes no sense to separate them completely. DevOps an
Agile can work together to produce great products and improve the software
development life cycle (SDLC).
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