Agile and DevOps – Which One is Better For Your Organization (or use both)?

Overview

Agile and DevOps are commonly encountered in the industry as they both are gaining more widespread use. While both of these concepts have a fair share of similarities, they are not synonymous and have different principles, processes, and goals. 

Before we dive into the differences between Agile and DevOps, let’s first understand the basics of these concepts and get familiar with them. 

Agile

Agile is a software development methodology that is aligned with the standards and quality of the Agile Manifesto. One of the primary principles of Agile is iterative development, which is centred around the collaboration of cross-functional teams working together to get the desired output. 

The Agile Manifesto mainly emphasizes the following viewpoints:

• Interaction between different teams through processes and tools.
• Establishing cooperation within teams and potential clients
• Discussion about working programming and methods
• Acknowledging and integrating feedback in the application

Agile plays a critical role in shaping software development lifecycles and brings an intensive shift in the working process of an organization. There are multiple ways in which you can implement agile processes, such as scrumban, Kanban or Scrum and so on. 

Agile has an array of advantages such as enhanced quality, focus on users and reduced errors. But it also has a few challenges on its way like cultural resistance to new processes, external and internal dependencies. 

DevOps

DevOps is a combination of two terms: development and operations. DevOps development is a process used by IT professionals and teams to work cohesively in order to speed up the software development processes. It focuses on the rapid delivery and deployment of the application to the production environment. 

DevOps essentially emphasizes automation tools and processes that can assist in rapid deployments. It brings together the Development and Operations teams, enabling them to develop and deploy code faster with the help of automated tools and processes. 

DevOps is an approach that enables companies to have smoother business operations and a faster delivery process.  

Which One is Better- Agile or DevOps?

Both Agile and DevOps have their own set of principles and processes, they serve different end goals and many organizations use both agile and DevOps. Ultimately, it depends on your organizational needs and what you’re trying to accomplish by integrating these methodologies. 

Have a look at the infographic below to understand the differences between Agile and DevOps: