Happy Tuesday Freshworks Community fam!

Just tagging some of our members if this is of interest and you would like to participate @zachary.king @keefe.andrews @daniel.soderlund @mmccoy @afautley @Crocus_Benford @SIT @julia.a @BrynCYDEF @raymondcanilao @Alefre @GlennA @ErikAlmSynerity @JiriGrohmann @i.cameron @mbauman @Bex @caygri @lavjoson @KeithW @Sophie Murgatroyd @danwrite @mark.uther @sucoyle @stacyv @adityatawade @ggallaway @JTAVOLARO @zebb.s @finn @stuartwilkie @KrisC @Kris W @Chris Sherlock @stevemc @Denise.S.P @patricksawyer @MartinDG @laminblake @PatrickMurphy @pOttenbacher @j.laird @jg8675309 @nbeysen @pproost @Denise.S.P @Joost van den Reek 

Hello IT and DevOps leaders,

I'm Sundar from the Freshservice Product team and I'm looking to your valuable insights and feedback on this topic.

As many organizations try implementing Agile and Devops practices, we at Freshservice would like to help our customers govern their DevOps processes (which spans across multiple tools) and provide them with complete visibility from code commit to post deployment monitoring on a single pane of glass -  making auditing a breeze.

If this is something that interests you, lets talk. Your contribution to this discussion will help shape the future of Freshservice.

Best,
Sundar

First we decided where does DevOps add the most value. We are a manufacturer and therefore excluded our Manufacturing and ERP software, since they are not high demanding on short time to markets of new features.  We put "Agile at the customer touch points” as a strategic goal on our roadmap. We formed a devops team, partnered up with an external SP. And started with the basics and with each sprint we improved our way of working. Within 1 year we reached the point where we implemented CI/CD. And our next goal is to start with automated testing.

We take that approach and we implementing it as we speak in our Freshservice domain. 

Our biggest challenges were stick to the artifacts and getting the User Stories to the proper degree of DoR. And our second one would be getting a good Business PO with a proper roadmap.

Our learnings, start small and makes steps each day, the road to success is not a straight line. And have a good roadmap for your Product or Service and listen to the feedback you get from your customers. We did a hackathon, with our PO and key business stakeholders involved and the winning feature was an in-app feedback widget. That was an extra stimuli for getting the conversations with our users/customers to a higher level.

Hi @Joost van den Reek,

Thanks for sharing this note on your DevOps journey. Having agile processes at customer touch points sounds like a great strategy. I have a couple of follow up questions.

1. Does the DevOps team use Freshservice to track the deployments? What tools do they use for implementing CI/CD?
2. How do you define when a User story has met the criteria for DoR? What checks do you implement to make sure a story is DoR?

Thank you,

Sundar

Hi @sundararajan.srinivasan,

we used Azure Devops as our tools to track the deployments. We created a backlog and scrum board in AZD and there we do our Agile artifacts.

What do you mean by what tool did we use for implementing CI/CD? We use Visual studio code and AZD and some Salesforce plugins. Does that answer your question?

To try to get de User Story as smart as possible(DoR) we use a specific syntax. 

As a < type of user >, I want < some goal > so that < some reason >.

And in the Refinement session we have warm handover towards the Devteam. 

Gr.

Joost

Got it, thanks for the details, @Joost van den Reek.

By CI/CD, I meant if you use Azure DevOps pipelines to automate some aspects (or all) of deployment. Or do you do them manually today?

DevOps Strategy:

1. Alignment with business goals: A successful DevOps strategy should align with the overall business goals and objectives. This involves understanding the organization's needs, identifying areas of improvement, and defining specific goals for the DevOps initiative.

2. Collaboration and communication: DevOps emphasizes collaboration and communication between development, operations, and other stakeholders. The strategy should include mechanisms for fostering effective collaboration, such as cross-functional teams, shared tools, and regular meetings.

3. Automation and tooling: Automation plays a crucial role in DevOps, enabling faster and more reliable software delivery. The strategy should focus on identifying opportunities for automation throughout the software development lifecycle and selecting appropriate tools to support the automation efforts.

4. Continuous integration and delivery: DevOps aims to enable frequent and efficient software releases. The strategy should include plans for implementing continuous integration and continuous delivery (CI/CD) practices, enabling developers to integrate code frequently and deploy it to production rapidly and reliably.

5. Measurement and feedback: DevOps promotes a culture of continuous improvement. The strategy should include metrics and feedback loops to measure the effectiveness of DevOps practices, identify bottlenecks, and drive ongoing improvements.

Challenges in DevOps:

1. Cultural transformation: One of the significant challenges in implementing DevOps is cultural resistance to change. DevOps requires a shift in mindset, collaboration, and shared responsibility, which may require organizations to overcome silos and encourage a culture of trust and transparency.

2. Toolchain complexity: Organizations may face challenges in selecting and integrating the right set of tools to support their DevOps practices. Managing a complex toolchain and ensuring proper integration and interoperability can be a challenge.

3. Legacy systems and processes: Introducing DevOps practices in organizations with legacy systems and processes can be challenging. Legacy systems may not be designed for automation or rapid deployments, requiring additional effort to modernize or integrate with DevOps practices.

4. Security and compliance: Integrating security and compliance measures within DevOps processes can be challenging. Organizations need to ensure that security practices are embedded throughout the development and deployment lifecycle without hindering the agility and speed of software delivery.

Role of ITSM (IT Service Management): ITSM can play a complementary role in supporting and aligning with DevOps practices. ITSM focuses on managing and delivering IT services effectively and efficiently. Here's how ITSM can contribute:

1. Change management: ITSM practices, such as change management, can help ensure that changes introduced through DevOps are properly assessed, planned, and controlled to minimize disruption and risk.

2. Incident and problem management: ITSM processes can provide a structured approach for handling incidents and problems that arise during software development and deployment. They help ensure issues are addressed promptly and root causes are identified and resolved.

3. Configuration and asset management: ITSM's configuration and asset management practices can help maintain an accurate inventory of software and hardware components, which is vital for effective change management and ensuring a stable and reliable environment.

4. Service-level management: ITSM's service-level management practices help define, monitor, and manage service-level agreements (SLAs) and key performance indicators (KPIs) to ensure that DevOps practices align with business requirements and deliver value to customers.

By combining DevOps and ITSM practices, organizations can achieve a balance between agility and stability, enabling faster software delivery while maintaining service quality and reliability. It's important to adapt and customize the practices to fit the organization's specific needs and context…..