You probably hear a lot about ultra-successful startups that went through the ceiling after the app launch. That’s because the news usually prefers to bring up positive stuff and hide things like software development failure.
However, you must be realistic when it comes down to the software development project failure rate. As a rule of thumb, it takes, like, hundreds of breakdowns to get a successful output. So, here I am to make you stop daydreaming and face reality! (Read on).
Can DevOps Lead to Software Development Project Failure?
SDLC is comparable to a train. You need a railway, a steam engine, some wagons, and locomotive engineers to make it move. DevOps, in this context, is like the railway. So, obviously, it can effortlessly lead to disastrous project crashes.
Since Development & Operations implements form a core-fraction of progressive executions, they can easily become destructive. Think of it as the foundation of a building. When it’s reliable, the whole building is safe; when it’s not, risks are just around the corner.
That’s why you must be at home with Dev & Ops scenarios that can lead to software development failure. (See below).
1. You Didn’t Know You’re Hiring a Single-Tasking Engineer
What is a DevOps engineer? Any type of definition definitely should include the state of being a multi-tasking expert in an SDLC team, right? So, what happens when you hire a single-tasking one is ending up having below-the-expectations productivity rate.
A Dev & Ops person must be able to handle several tasks at the time. Otherwise, agile implementations and performance enhancement attempts will be doomed to fail. You cannot hire an engineer for every specific DevOps task. That’d only leave you with heavy bills by the end of the month.
So, if you want to dodge the possibility of facing software development failure, consider hiring multi-tasking DevOps people. Having them among your squad is one of the main ways of securing efficient function and face beneficial results.
2. You Signed Up a System Administrator as a DevOps Engineer
Let me offer a software development failure example:
You want to fulfill the need for developers in the SDLC team. But you come up with a brilliant idea to hire a DevOps engineer to hit two birds with one stone. However, what you don’t take into account is the possibility of signing up a Dev & Ops person with a system administration background. And, consequently, you end up having no fresh-blood developer—which will be the first stage of a breakdown.
You must never forget that there are two types of Development & Operations experts in the IT industry. The first group is consists of those who come with a system administration backstory. The second one, however, includes engineers who started their careers as developers.
So, make sure to employ them based on their DevOps skill circle, knowledge, and experience. Not everyone who calls themselves a Dev & Ops specialist is the one you need in your team.
3. No Engineer Was Brave Enough to Come Up with Novel Ideas
One of the very common, but low-key, scenarios of software development failure accurse when ideas remain concealed. When your DevOps experts have no courage to come up with creative solutions and unique resolutions, the project will crash.
You employ such experts because you need to add creativity to the problem-solving attempts. Now, if your people are not willing to express their ideas, things will have no choice but going banana soon.
To avoid such a state of affairs, try to provide DevOps people with an expressive environment. Encourage them to speak up and make them feel at ease expressing their out-of-the-box ideas.
Otherwise, you’ll fail to develop software one way or another as flaws will not leave you alone.
4. You’re DevOps People Had No Idea What BRM and ROI Are
There are going to be lots of occasions where a professional Dev & Ops specialist changes the workflow of the project. That’s one of the DevOps engineer responsibilities. So, you can’t (and shouldn’t) blame them for that.
But when you leave an ignorant expert behind the steer, things don’t end up pleasingly. That’s so because such an unqualified team member might not consider the BRM and ROI necessities when making fundamental changes.
So, one of the reasons why you fail to develop software could be having financially ill-informed DevOps people.
Your Development & Operations experts must be at ease dealing with numbers. If not, they’ll leave you with an unbalanced outcome/output ratio. And that can easily set in motion further breakdowns as unmatured BRM and ROI cause major financial damages.