Implementing DevOps offers many documented benefits. According to Electro IQ, DevOps teams with CI/CD and version control are 2.5× faster in delivery and 1.4× more likely to meet performance goals.
But these gains do not come instantly. It requires assessing whether the approach is the right fit for you and anticipating and addressing potential DevOps challenges. You will also need to skill your team through DevOps courses to clarify common misconceptions about forming a DevOps implementation strategy.
The Challenges of Implementing DevOps
While the benefits of a DevOps approach are compelling, implementing it is not without its challenges and potential drawbacks. Read this blog post to explore the benefits of DevOps strategy and implementation.
These DevOps challenges are not reasons to avoid using the approach. Rather, they are factors that your team needs to carefully consider and manage during the transition.
Challenge 1: The Cultural Shift is Difficult
This is often cited as the biggest hurdle. DevOps is more about people and processes than it is about tools.
Resistance to Change: Employees are often comfortable with established routines and processes. Shifting from a siloed "developer vs. operations" mindset to one of shared responsibility and collaboration can be met with resistance.
Lack of Leadership Buy-In: For a cultural change to succeed, it must be championed by senior management. Without strong leadership support, DevOps initiatives can falter and be seen as a "pet project" rather than a fundamental business strategy.
Organisational Structure: Traditional organisational hierarchies with separate departments for development, QA, and operations can be deeply entrenched. Breaking down these silos and creating cross-functional teams requires a significant restructuring effort.
Challenge 2: High Initial Investment
While DevOps can lead to long-term cost savings, the upfront investment can be significant.
Tooling Costs: Implementing DevOps requires investing in a new, often complex toolchain for automation, CI/CD, monitoring, logging, and infrastructure-as-code.
Training and Skill Gaps: Your existing teams may lack the necessary skills for a DevOps environment. You'll need to invest in DevOps training courses or hire new, highly skilled, and certified DevOps engineers. These options can be expensive or challenging due to a talent shortage.
Challenge 3: Increased Complexity and Tool Overload
A DevOps ecosystem is not a single product; it's a collection of tools that need to be integrated and managed.
Integration Challenges: Selecting and integrating tools across the pipeline's various stages can be complex. If not done correctly, you can end up with a messy, unmanageable system that's more difficult to maintain than your old process.
Too Many Choices: The DevOps tool landscape is vast and constantly evolving. This can lead to "decision paralysis" when choosing the best tools for your specific needs.
Management Overhead: The automated systems require management and monitoring. This can introduce a new layer of complexity and require dedicated resources.
Challenge 4: Security Risks
While the "DevSecOps" movement aims to integrate security, the rapid pace of a DevOps pipeline can introduce new security vulnerabilities if not properly managed. Getting security above board is one of the biggest challenges with DevOps.
"Shift Left" Security is Not Guaranteed: Simply adopting DevOps doesn't mean security will be integrated. If security is not treated as a first-class citizen and built into every stage of the pipeline, the speed of delivery can outpace security checks, leading to vulnerabilities.
Lack of Standardisation: The lack of a single, standardised DevOps framework means organisations often develop customised processes, which can create security gaps.
Challenge 5: Over-reliance on Automation and Tools
While automation is a core tenet of DevOps, an over-reliance on it can be a pitfall.
"Throwing a tool at the problem": Some organisations mistakenly believe that simply buying and implementing a set of tools means they are "doing" DevOps. This ignores the crucial cultural and process changes required for success.
Lack of Human Oversight: Automation can lead to a false sense of security. Without proper monitoring and human oversight, a flawed automated process can repeatedly deploy a broken or vulnerable application.
Learning to address the challenges with DevOps courses
Successfully implementing DevOps requires investing in your team's skills and fostering the right culture. Through DevOps courses, you can learn what’s needed to bring about these changes.
Lumify Work is proud to be ANZ's only Platinum Partner of PeopleCert, owners of the DevOps Institute (DOI). We are an Accredited Training Organisation for PeopleCert's DevOps courses and certifications. Courses are also available in the Philippines.
The DevOps Institute is a global learning community empowering people who power IT. Their goal is to help you develop both the professional and personal expertise to succeed in DevOps strategy and implementation.
Consider enterprise-level DevOps certifications and DevOps courses such as DevOps Foundation (DOFD), DevOps Leader (DOL) and DevSecOps Foundation (DSOF).
