Difference between Agile and DevOps

(Agile vs DevOps)

What is Agile Methodology?

Agile methodology points to a software development methodology consolidated to the idea of repetitive development, where requirements and solutions develop through fraternizing between self-organizing and cross-functional teams. The utmost value in Agile development is that it allow teams to deliver faster value, with good quality and predictability, and greater ability to respond to change.

To understand Agile Methodology in detail, please check the last article – Introduction to Agile Methodology

What is DevOps?

DevOps is a group of practices that integrates software development  and IT operations . Its goal is to reduce the systems development life cycle and provide continuous delivery with top software quality. DevOps is reciprocal with Agile software development. Many DevOps features came from Agile methodology.

DevOps is established on lean and agile practice area. It is not a title or role within a company, rather a commitment that an organization or team makes to do continuous delivery, deployment, and integration. There are 3 ways that define the principles of DevOps:

• Principles of flow
• Principles of feedback
• Principles of continuous learning

Benefits of DevOps

• Using DevOps, system moves at the speed to innovate faster, accommodate to the changing markets, and become more coherent at driving business results.
• Rapid delivery. By increasing the pace of releases, we can improve our product faster and build competitive advantage.
• Practices like continuous integration and continuous delivery can certify the quality of application updates and infrastructure changes so that we can reliably deliver at a more rapid pace while maintaining the best experience for end users.
• Improved collaboration. In DevOps model, developers and operations teams collude closely, share responsibilities, and combine their workflows. This turn down the inefficiencies and saves time.
• We can acquire a DevOps model without giving up security by using automated, integrated security testing tools.

Agile vs DevOps

DevOps and agile are distinct from each other, to eliminate the confusion, it’s important to get down to the nuts and bolts.

Similarities Between Dev0ps and Agile

Before discussing the difference between Agile and DevOps, lets consider the similarities between the two:

• DevOps and agile are software development methodologies.
• Agile came into the picture for over 20 years, and DevOps came into the picture recently.
• DevOps and agile believe in fast software development, and their principles depend on how fast software can be built without causing harm to the customer or operations.

Difference Between Agile and DevOps:

The difference between the DevOps and agile is what happens after development –

• In terms of feedback, customer feedback is considered for Agile framework. On the contrary, Devops requires taking self-feedback.
• Deployment, Testing and Software development takes place in both DevOps and agile. But, agile stops after these three stages. On the other hand, DevOps includes operations, which occur continuously, henceforth monitoring and software development are also continuous.
• Automation is less favored in case of Agile approach, while some of automation tools and setups are integral part of Devops.
• Different resources are responsible for developing, testing, and deploying the software in Agile methodology. But in DevOps, the DevOps engineering role is responsible for everything; development and operations are done by the same people.
• DevOps is more concerned with cost-cutting, and agile is more correspondent with lean and reducing waste.
• Agile mainly focuses on adaptation, transparency, and inspection instead of predictive measures.

Comparison Table – Agile vs DevOps

PARAMETER	AGILE	DEVOPS
Feedback	Feedback is taken from customer	Feedback is taken from self
Stages	Agile only considers 3 stages i.e. deployment, testing and software development	DevOps also includes operations, monitoring and software development
Methodology	Works wrt Software Development	Works wrt development and operations
Release cycles	Product is built in smaller release cycles	Product is built in smaller release cycles and immediate feedback
Focus area	Agile focuses on speed	Devops focuses on speed and automation
Automation	Less favorable	More favorable to automation
Resource and role	Different resources are responsible for different activities	engineering role is responsible for everything
Key concern	Lean and reducing waste.	cost-cutting

Download the comparison table here.

Conclusion

After understanding the difference between Agile and DevOps, we acn conclude that Agile and DevOps are distinct, even though their similarities lead people to think they are one and the same. Agile and DevOps are not hostile in any way. They are more friends than enemies in the agile revolution. Agile and DevOps can work exclusively and inclusively, which permits both to exist in the same space.