Breaking down silos with DevOps

DevOps started as a relatively simple strategy to link the efforts of development and operational support organizations through improved communication and collaboration. The early proponents of DevOps advocated a cultural change to break down the silos that separated these organizations. This cultural change helped development teams build and deliver products that were more easily supported and sustained. Also, the collaborations helped ensure that development teams received input from customers on usability and functionality issues that came in through the help desks.

The initial concept of DevOps has evolved in large part due to technology and tool enhancements that not only supported communication and collaboration requirements, but also enabled improvements in IT process integration and automation across the entire product life cycle. As a former business process re-engineering consultant, I liken modern DevOps implementations to the re-engineering...