DevOps principles

In 2010 Damon Edwards and John Willis came up with the CAMS model to showcase the key values of DevOps. CAMS is an acronym that stands for Culture, Automation, Measurement, and Sharing. As these are the main principles of DevOps

Culture

DevOps is initially the culture and mindset forging strong collaborative bonds between software development and infrastructure operations teams. This culture is built upon the following pillars.

Constant collaboration and communication. These have been the building blocks of DevOps since its dawn. Your team should work cohesively with the understanding of the needs and expectations of all members.

Gradual changes. The implementation of gradual rollouts allows delivery teams to release a product to users while having an opportunity to make updates and roll back if something goes wrong.

Shared end-to-end responsibility. When every member of a team moves towards one goal and is equally responsible for a project from beginning to end, they work cohesively and look for ways of facilitating other members’ tasks

Early problem-solving. DevOps requires that tasks be performed as early in the project lifecycle as possible. So, in case of any issues, they will be addressed more quickly.

Automation of processes Automating as many developments, testing, configuration, and deployment procedures as possible is the golden rule of DevOps. It allows specialists to get rid of time-consuming repetitive work and focus on other important activities that can’t be automated by their nature.

Measurement of KPIs (Key Performance Indicators) Decision-making should be powered by factual information in the first place. To get optimal performance, it is necessary to keep track of the progress of activities composing the DevOps flow. Measuring various metrics of a system allows for understanding what works well and what can be improved.

Sharing Sharing is caring. This phrase explains the DevOps philosophy better than anything else as it highlights the importance of collaboration. It is crucial to share feedback, best practices, and knowledge among teams since this promotes transparency, creates collective intelligence, and eliminates constraints. You don’t want to put the whole development process on pause just because the only person who knows how to handle certain tasks went on a vacation or quit.