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DevOps - Signs of Dysfunctional Processes in DevOps

The DevOps team is understood to be very vital in an organization’s setup because it has the responsibility of ensuring that all operations run effectively. With the aid of continuous software deliveries and proper regulation of software products in technologically advanced firms, the system is made to be part of the operation, and to some extent, one does not need to adopt other non-functional applications that would otherwise be needed for supervision or oversight. Moreover, work is often made easier when the team members work together by sharing specific software skills and knowledge within the organization. Such practices are found to be quite useful when it comes to running an organization’s base and effectively managing a company’s software deliveries.

However, there are a few things that make the team incapable of performing its expected role to the extent that it causes work incompetency. It can also affect the whole system in such a way that it impacts the low level of software deliveries and poor management of the tech firm’s database. From this perspective, it is prudent to discuss these signs of dysfunctional processes in DevOps that are responsible for diminishing the quality of software release in an organization. These facts and discussions are not limited or inclusive of all the factors which may influence the functionality of the DevOps system, but it gives more hints on what to expect and all those things which need to be avoided in the process. The expanse of all these factors depends on the size, nature, and business culture of the organization.

In most cases, self-centeredness in some specific individuals in the DevOps team will lower the work morale and performance of the organization. Clearly, optimism is encouraged in an agile team when members collaborate and assist each other. Such can be made possible and essential in the organization, but this optimism may be crushed and reduced due to the existence of one or two selfish members within the team who tend to lower the morale through discouragement or the exertion of a bad attitude on others. Such people are in any business setting, and most of them are inclined to be toxic and deprive others of progress. These people may present themselves as team members not open enough to share technical software skills and knowledge with other team members? Furthermore, they may go as far as to hoard their code. If this is the case, it is a serious indication of a dysfunctional process in the team that members should seriously scrutinize. If the situation is serious enough, some even deserve to be disqualified or removed from the production team. In case this individual and their behavior is not addressed early enough, this character will lead to poor coordination and ineffective cooperation among team members. Treating such disease within the organization normally proves to be difficult, since most of these people are insiders used by the top managers within the organization to report any mischief. They are regarded to be the most useful people within the organization, even though they are useless to team members when it comes to DevOps development and operation.

Pair programming adopted from the Extreme Programming (XP) catalog of practices are regarded highly by the developers. It has been popularized to improve code quality and widen understanding of the product being developed through hands-on learning. However, some fallbacks exist during its delivery and development which are normal to any system developers. As usual, every business has to incur some losses before gaining the expected profit, or sometimes the profits exceed the expectation of the developers. As it has been depicted to be a process where two or more developers focus and work on the same code side by side to facilitate effective teamwork. The developed relationship reduces and eliminates narcissistic characters that exist in the organization’s setup which proves to be toxic to progress. As a result, it ensures that team members freely share what they know and have without much contradiction during development and production of code. One should note that, when it comes to software development, teamwork matters most, and it ensures that all the processes are intact.

Furthermore, an effective DevOps team results in a group of peers whose definite objective is to ensure that the organization reaches its target. Also, it ensures that the organization achieves its goal no matter the risk that needs to be taken and other factors involved in the process. In some cases, there may be a seasoned or highly skilled member in the DevOps team who may feel that they are not suited for certain roles in the team, perhaps as the result of the insinuation that one considers themself more important than other members of the team. Most likely, it will result in refusal to perform certain important duties, unlike other members who freely engage themselves with the team tasks assigned to them. If these characters are encouraged, it may interfere with the overall success of the company, and this will be a clear sign of a dysfunctional process in the DevOps team. Therefore, there is a need for these individuals to be separated from team members and be positioned as either a coach or a technical trainer with the aid of leveling the position of the team in an organization. By doing so, the other team members can be creative and innovative in their projects without much hindrance from outside thus encouraging productivity and profitability of the firm. The product development is made easier and effective in the process which ensures that all the process goes smoothly.

Some DevOps teams may develop unpleasing habits which may deprive the organization productivity at the end of the financial year. These can be due to some factors which may be as a result of team members not following any process or rigor of any kind because they are practicing “Agile.” It is always relevant for the DevOps to use the right process during service deliveries to ensure customer’s satisfaction. So when DevOps team feels that they can customize just any process at any given time they wish, then it will lead to dysfunctional process in the team. So, the best solution to this problem is to direct that energy towards retrospection, where the team can explore opportunities for change. By doing so, they can change their current mindset that is causing this problem within the organization. Moreover, an effective reinforcement should also be ensured to allow gradual improvement of the team’s mindset and also to train them to do so within the context of a designed approach within the retrospective system. Additionally, miscommunication is conceived to be a clear sign of dysfunctional release process in DevOps, and it can cause unplanned outages in an organization. When there is little or no prediction in the release process for effective anticipation and contact problems in production due to miscommunication it tends to lead to many problems within the system. Also, the ineffective cost analysis and risks related to even the simplest of releases can inconvenience the production in the long run. In addition, when there is poor communication among members of the DevOps team, so many inaccuracies will be witnessed due to the mismanagement of information, and this will impact the organization to experience communication breakdown.

Furthermore, poor management of the environment in a release process will oblige the DevOps teams in charge of experimentation and qualification responsible for the release process to scramble over limited resources due to adversity. This will emerge as a result of the teams’ inability to accurately anticipate environment contention issues. In this case, one will experience inconvenienced and frustrated when the whole project has to come to a halt and wait for a testing environment to be restructured at the last minute. No one likes such situations, and when it presents itself in the development stage, the responsible team usually feels discouraged and sometimes they may quit. To rejuvenate the process, there are some actions that need to be taken by the developers. Owing to the fact that restructuring will definitely result in unnecessary delays leading to time wastage and release of software products of poor quality.

Generally, it may be quite difficult to achieve continuous improvement of the team’s mindset when they are surrounded by negativity that may impact the organization. Agile teams will require some time to develop an improved mindset, as it may take weeks or even months for the team to adopt the right state of mind. The DevOps team leader is responsible for developing an effective and positive mindset that fosters teamwork, genuine trust, and mutual understanding among team members. This will, in turn, improve the in-depth level of innovation and creativity among the team members, thereby boosting organization’s productivity and ensuring that clients access quality services in terms of software deliveries. Most firms have currently resorted to employing high-performing technicians who are accorded the role of training, coaching, and mentoring the DevOps team members. By doing so, they enable them come up with effective strategies for managing software deliveries and creating a job momentum that will favor both software developers and IT managers.

Similarly, a high level of communication should be enhanced by creating relevant meetings between data scientists and technology employers. Such discussions are very important considering matters at hand, and it also allows for high tech employees to give out their opinions and address their grievances to their employers in time. Conclusively, effective teamwork within the DevOps system will be enhanced if members practice equity within the organizational set up by willingly sharing their technical skills and knowledge. Such actions are very important and should be taken seriously where development of DevOps is concerned. In every IT firm, DevOps assume a major role in ensuring that there are effective software management and efficient deliveries. In most cases, these processes may be rendered ineffective due to some unfortunate eventualities that may arise from either IT managers or the DevOps team or even from the environment.

Sometimes an IT company may be located in an insecure area where IT employees feel unprotected from physical harm that may arise from bandits who surround that location. For instance, the company may have been situated in slums, where the crime rate is quite high due to unemployment and the existence of deadly gangs that are ready to steal and kill to earn a living. One or two members of the DevOps team may be attacked on their way home from work, impacting physical damage, serious health problems, or even death. This may interfere with DevOps’ entire process due to loss of a member. Without any doubt, insecurity is a pure sign of dysfunctional process in DevOps team. By any means, such behaviors should be monitored to ensure that the system operation runs smoothly. However, it is the duty of the development and operation team to ensure that all the functionality is within reach of everyone involved. A group of software developers may have worked in an IT company for a longer period and for that matter, expect to be promoted to a higher position because of their competency and job commitment. However, the firm may fail to recognize their deeds and ignore their call for promotion, making the DevOps team develop a negative attitude towards the company. Discouraged, these system developers may lower their concentration on work, thereby slowing the process of software deliveries and reducing the company’s products. This will cause a dysfunctional process in the release of software products that may narrow the company’s profit margin.

Motivation is important in any organization because it will often boost employees’ morale to perform much better when carrying out their duties. Motivation can be done in several ways, and it can be either in terms of financial benefit, which includes salary increments, or even through mentorship programs. In any IT firm, software developers need much support from the organization’s management team because of their responsibility in managing the company’s database, a crucial role to the department and organization. Without motivation in an IT firm, the company is likely to experience lower level of attention by the system developers to perform their respective roles.

Increased level of corruption within the IT staff is also a sign of a dysfunctional process in the DevOps team because it will promote favoritism, which will create a toxic working environment, thereby building tension among members of the DevOps team. Considering other workers to be much more special than others will only create enmity within the organization, thereby lowering the level of coordination and cooperation among the team members. IT managers and directors should therefore ensure that they promote equity in dealing with members of the DevOps team to make every member feel a sense of value and appreciation. Failure in these companies to carefully highlight their objectives and policies to the DevOps team may also create irrelevancy when it comes to data management. When a firm is employing a DevOps team, members of this team should be obliged to stick to the company’s policies and objectives to enhance sufficient delivery of software products.

Increased level of expenditure by the DevOps team may lead to financial shortages, thereby making the company not achieve its financial goals. The DevOps team may have been allocated with a substantial amount of funds by the finance department to enable them to run their operations smoothly and conveniently, but due to poor management of funds by the DevOps team, financial breakdowns might be witnessed leading to lowered software production and slowed release into the market economy. The IT Company will, in turn, incur financial losses leading to reduced profits in the IT Company. Poor management of funds is, therefore, a sign of the dysfunctional process of the DevOps team.

Recruitment of unskilled and incompetent technicians in the organization can lead to failure in the DevOps system due to ineffective processes. If the DevOps team consists of members who lack efficient technical skills and knowledge, the organization’s goals will not be achieved to the latter. For any IT company to rise to the top, it will require quality service in software deliveries, and this will only be granted by a highly qualified DevOps team that consists of members who are technologically oriented, highly-skilled, and knowledgeable on software production. So before the DevOps team is selected, the department in charge of recruiting workers should thoroughly scrutinize the DevOps team and ensure that they have the right technological skills to facilitate quality smooth running of operations.

Limited ability to deliver multiple simultaneous releases in the organization affects service delivery. There may be many releases to be done in the IT company, but due to inefficient human resources and the inability of software developers to create continuous software delivery, there will be lower production of the company’s software products. Laziness portrayed by the DevOps team may also be one of the causes of a company’s downfall. If the team members are not committed to their roles as expected, it may lead to a slow process of service delivery, thereby reducing the company’s productivity. Failure of the DevOps team their work sufficient time will make an IT company experience losses that are least expected.

Failure of the DevOps team to conduct effective market research on their products may lead to poor sales of the software products. An effective team should take a reasonable amount of time to identify potential consumers and maintain them so that there may be the consistency of sales on the software products, thereby enabling the financial stability of the DevOps team. Poor market research should therefore be considered as a sign of dysfunctional process.

Poor planning and inefficient management of the software’s database by the DevOps team may increase the level of incompetence in the IT firm. It may also interfere with the company’s confidentiality on matters considered to be of high regard due to mismanagement of information by the DevOps team. This may, in turn, result in misunderstanding between the IT managers and software developers in an organization.

This post is licensed under CC BY 4.0 by the author.