BizDevOps (Business, Development and Operations)
BizDevOps, also known as DevOps 2.0, is an approach to software development that encourages developers, operations staff and business teams to work together so the organization can develop software more quickly, be more responsive to user demand and ultimately maximize revenue.
In the past, development teams, operations teams and business management teams operated in silos. The development team created code, the operations team managed the code after it was released and the management team reviewed data for the business’ key performance indicators (KPIs) and set requirements for future development projects. A BizDevOps approach knocks down the silo walls and fundamentally changes the way software is developed. In this approach, not only does the business team set requirements, they also work directly with developers to set priorities for agile software development sprints and backlogs. They become partners with the business-side and work with managers to solve problems and achieve business goals.
One of the technologies driving the BizDevOps movement is real-time analytics. Using application performance monitoring tools, as well as analytics tools, companies are now able to get data about application performance and end-user behavior instantly and quantify how well it supports the business’ KPIs. It had not been possible to track this level of granular information before; now the business objectives can drive and guide application development and deployment down to the smallest feature.
The immediacy of the data is also allowing changes in applications to be made quickly and releases to be made more frequently. In some cases, this approach will lead to increased automation, especially in testing and quality assurance (QA). The need for speed is also likely to automate some areas of routine code development as well, providing developers with time to experiment with innovative ways to support business objectives in an increasingly agile manner. The speed and flexibility that BizDevOps allows – and even encourages -- BizDevOps teams the ability to identify mistakes quickly and fix them right away, a concept known as “fail fast.”
In some organizations, a BizDevOps team may also include security and/or compliance management team members as well as representatives from testing and quality assurance teams. To avoid an ungainly name like BizDevSecComQaOps, however, the label digital BizDevOps or sometimes just BizOps is used to represent the concept of having an organization’s business team work directly with members of the organization’s IT department. It is important to note, however, that BizOps can also have a narrower, non-technical meaning and simply stand for “business operations” or “business opportunity.”
