Chapter 8. Agile and DevOps Adoption are Gaining Momentum

In the previous chapter, we discussed testing in agile development and the state of agile adoption. In this chapter, we will discuss key trends relating to the increased adoption of agile development:

• Increased use of agile/DevOps principles
• Increased complexity of testing in agile engagements
• Challenges in setting up agile Testing Center of Excellence (TCOE)
• Readiness of the QA discipline to meet the demands of agile/DevOps engagements
• Difference in testing DevOps with regard to traditional engagements

Increased adoption of agile methodologies and DevOps is helping businesses roll out new products and services at greater speed.

Findings from WQR 2016 indicate increased maturity with better appreciation of the true purpose and application of DevOps. 42 % of the respondents reported an uptick in continuous monitoring with predictive analysis along with an increased use of cloud-based environments.

Colocation and the lack of the required skill sets are the two biggest risks associated with agile and DevOps adoption. However, organizations are able to find solutions to these challenges in order to increase the implementation of agile methodologies. 44 % of businesses are reluctant to include testing teams in the initial planning phase, as they believe it would inhibit release speed and risk business security.

Success stories in distributed agile methodology are enabling faster proliferation of agile principles. WQR 2016 indicates over 42 % of the organizations that adopted the agile delivery model currently use distributed agile methodologies. These methodologies allow an organization to achieve higher cost savings associated with the global delivery model. From a skill set perspective, the supply and demand gap is also narrowing and more than 80 per cent of project managers believe that they have the right skill sets needed for agile and DevOps delivery.