IT or information technology has become an integral part of our daily lives. From the way we communicate to the way we conduct business; information technology has made the impossible possible. It has also made our lives more convenient by providing us with tools to manage our time and resources more efficiently. And as a result, it has also allowed us to do more and achieve more than ever before.
However, IT, with its myriad of applications, use cases, and terminologies, has become a very intricate and vast subject making it super complicated for newbies to indulge and understand. So, to make things a little easier, here we will discuss some IT essential concepts and differences between agile methodology and DevOps —two of the most important and widely used approaches to IT development. So, without any further ado, let’s dive into the concepts!
What Is Agile Methodology?
In simple terms, Agile methodology is a software development approach that values flexible, iterative and incremental processes over time-consuming analysis, design and extensive documentation. It also advocates “responding to change over following a plan” and rewards “the ability to respond to change.” Developers following this approach manage their project by breaking the project into several development cycles—iterations—which are known as sprints.
These cycles can be worked in parallel or individually and aim to deliver a working software solution within a specific time frame. The end goal of the process is to identify and solve problems, create and deliver a working product, as well as iterate the development of that product to make it better, more efficient and cost-effective.
Further, with constant collaboration between the different groups, internal and external to the company, an Agile development approach promotes continuous learning and improves the overall efficiency of the process.
What Is DevOps?
DevOps is short for “development” and “operations” and refers to the integration of the application development process from product development through to customer delivery.
DevOps is about harmonizing the various departments and cross-functional groups involved in software development into a cohesive group working together towards a common goal. It encourages the application of automation and integration of IT processes, so that team members are continuously learning and adapting to the ever-changing software environment.
In essence, DevOps is an approach that promotes collaboration and continuous learning and a way of managing development projects through a mix of manual and automated processes.
Agile Methodology Vs. DevOps?
The primary difference between Agile and DevOps is that Agile methodology emphasizes making the development process more agile, flexible and efficient.
While DevOps is about the application of automation and integrations of IT processes so that teams can continuously learn and adapt to the ever-changing software environment. It aims to bring every group involved in the development process together to deliver a working product as early as possible, ensure responsiveness to changes and achieve a team-oriented development process.
And though both Agile and DevOps can overlap, companies can still benefit from one or the other, depending on their own specific needs.
Conclusion
To conclude, we can say that Agile methodology and DevOps are two different approaches to managing development projects. While Agile focuses on faster processes, DevOps aims to accelerate product development by bringing all of a company’s resources together in an effective manner.
However, there is a lot of overlap between both approaches as well, so companies can often benefit from using them together. And given that both have their own set of strengths and weaknesses, it ultimately comes down to your needs.
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