As today’s technology leaders come under mounting pressure to enable tangible business outcomes, an increasing number of them are looking to transform their application and development functions through the use of so-called ‘DevOps’ best practices.
Chief information officers (CIOs) have long used performance metrics to measure the success (or failure) of their technology initiatives. But as organisations continue to break down silos, demand more collaboration and teamwork, and require greater business acumen, there is a pressing need to identify performance metrics that can adequately prove and communicate business outcomes in a way that the business itself understands.
Unfortunately, however, a large number of IT teams use too many irrelevant performance metrics without the required context, turning the metrics themselves into the endgame rather than viewing them as a means to an end. DevOps methodology seeks to combat this by optimising the use of metrics to gauge both IT successes and failures, as well as to communicate and show business value and outcomes.
Key projects such as automated testing, continuous integration and delivery, application performance and analytics, and change management require metrics to track progress and measure business and technology value. And IDC believes that performance metrics provide a great tracking and communications tool for enabling a direct connection between the technology investments of DevOps (people, process, and technology) and the business value it attempts to generate.
Metrics can help enable fact-based decision making, and facts are difficult to ignore or argue against. Identifying and defining the right metrics takes time, however. For their part, business executives and their teams need to invest time to determine which metrics matter most to the service they are using and the outcome it is expected to deliver.
IT executives, meanwhile, must design DevOps performance metrics that are simple, pragmatic, and accessible to both technology and business teams. They must invest in role-based dashboards and reporting capabilities for business and technology executives, teams, and staff. And they must define performance metrics that not only improve the speed and quality of service delivery but also enhance their ability to avoid additional costs as business demands increase.
While most IT teams use metrics to track progress and measure business and technology value, they often have weak linkages to key performance indicators or critical success factors, and the metrics are tied to outdated technology platforms that are concerned more about rules and procedures rather than driving business outcomes. It is this narrow focus on what works from the IT department’s point of view that has to change.
As such, it is important to remember that the details are less important than the results. With this in mind, IDC advises CIOs not to get too hung up on defining precisely how DevOps methodology differs from the status quo, focusing instead on identifying the principles of DevOps that can accelerate the delivery of meaningful business results in a quantifiable and long-lasting way. Because, ultimately, it will be the business decision makers who determine the success or failure of a given project, not the IT department.
The columnist is group vice-president and regional managing director for the Middle East, Africa and Turkey at global ICT market intelligence and advisory firm International Data Corporation (IDC) He can be contacted via Twitter @JyotiIDC.
