Understanding DevOps: Six Definitions and Metaphors

When you try to explain DevOps and its underlying meaning in a single sentence, you may feel at a loss; this article provides simple definitions and analogies to help you explain DevOps to non‑technical people.

Ten years ago the term DevOps emerged, evolving from a technical topic into a cultural movement in IT. It encourages developers to build quickly, experiment, and iterate, and it is inseparably linked to digital transformation. Over the past decade, many differing definitions, translations, and misunderstandings have arisen.

Is DevOps the same as Agile? Is it a methodology? Or merely another term for collaboration? Because DevOps encompasses many concepts—continuous delivery, continuous integration, automation, etc.—condensing it into a brief, comprehensive explanation is challenging.

Rather than focusing on subtle differences between specific DevOps terms, this article concentrates on the broader framework.

What is DevOps? Six Definitions and Metaphors

1. DevOps as a cultural movement : "DevOps is a cultural movement where key stakeholders (software developers and IT operations) believe that software has no real value until it is used by customers, employees, or end‑users," says Eveline Oehrlic, chief research analyst at the DevOps Institute.

2. DevOps empowers developers : "DevOps empowers developers to own, operate, and manage end‑to‑end delivery of an application."

3. DevOps as a collaborative software building and delivery method : "Simply put, DevOps is a way for everyone to work together on software development and delivery," says Gur Steif, President of Digital Business Automation at BMC.

4. DevOps as an assembly line : "For an assembly line to work, components must be designed to fit together perfectly." This analogy extends to software, where developers must consider databases, security, and scalability.

5. DevOps as a "recipe" combining people, processes, and automation : Jayne Grol, CEO of the DevOps Institute, compares DevOps to a cooking recipe that mixes ingredients from lean, agile, CI/CD, ITIL, leadership, culture, and tools to increase customer value.

6. DevOps teams like a NASCAR race : Chris Short, Chief Product Manager at Red Hat Ansible, likens DevOps initiatives to a race where teams work backward from the finish line, continuously collaborate, practice releases, and adapt based on real feedback.

The article also mentions the #IDCF DevOps Hackathon Challenge, an event that combines end‑to‑end DevOps experience with lean startup, agile development, and DevOps pipelines, scheduled for March 25‑26, 2023 in Shanghai, inviting both corporate and individual participants to build and launch a product within 36 hours.