We ’ ve been getting “ DevOps vs ITIL ” wrong By Jon Hall
We ’ ve been getting “ DevOps vs ITIL ” wrong By Jon Hall
At DevOps conferences , I ’ ve observed some very negative sentiment about ITIL and ITSM . In particular , the Change Advisory Board is frequently cited as a symbol of ITSM ’ s anachronistic bureaucracy . They have a point . Enterprise IT support organisations are seen as slow , siloed structures built around an outdated three-tier application model .
None of this should be a surprise . The Agile Manifesto , effectively the DevOps movement ’ s Declaration of Independence , explicitly values individualism over process , and reactiveness over structure . The manifesto is the specific antithesis of the traits seen in that negative perception of ITSM .
ITSM commentary on DevOps , meanwhile , is inconsistent , ranging from outright confusion to sheer overconfidence . The complaints of the DevOps community are frequently acknowledged , but they are often waved away on the basis that ITSM is “ just a framework ”, and hence it should be perfectly possible to fit Devops within that framework . If that doesn ’ t work , the framework must have been implemented badly . Again , this is a reasonable point .
4 itSMF Bulletin — February 2017
But there ’ s a recurring problem with the debate : it tends to focus primarily on processes : two ITIL processes in particular . ITSM commentators frequently argue that Change Management already supports the notion of automated , pre-approved changes . DevOps “ is just mature ITIL Release Management ”, stated an opinion piece in the Australian edition of Computerworld ( a remarkable assertion , but we ’ ll come to that later ). Some of the more robust sceptics in the DevOps community focus on ITSM ’ s process silos and their incompatibility with the new agility in software development .
Certainly , the ITSM community has to realise that there is a revolution happening in software production . Here are some statements which are easy to back up with real-world evidence :
� DevOps methodology fundamentally improves some of the inefficiencies of old , waterfall-driven processes .
� Slow , unnecessarily cumbersome processes are expensive in themselves , and they create opportunity costs by stifling innovation .
� Agile , autonomous teams of developers are unleashing creativity and innovation at a new pace .