A Systematic Literature Review on DevOps and its Definitions, Adoptions, Benefits and Challenges
Gustaf Österberg · Doria (University of Helsinki) · 2020
The increased pace of software development and rapid changes of business- and technological requirements have introduced a new type of software development culture called DevOps. IT Operations and Software Development have endured poor communication and collaboration with each other, which have resulted in bottlenecks throughout the software development life cycle. The discrepancy has contributed to delayed software updates with inferior quality and a culture, that complicates the goals of organisations, to produce high-quality software for its customers. DevOps can streamline the software development process by removing the constraints on the teams, by increasing collaboration, automation, sharing and measurement principles. This is possible through the change of mindset and culture of the organisation. Since the concept of DevOps is loosely defined, it is an interesting topic to research. This thesis provides an insight on the definitions, implementations, benefits and challenges of DevOps, through a systematic literature review. The literature review was conducted by identifying and analysing the related literature on DevOps. The results were 25 primary studies on the definition, adoption methods, benefits and challenges of DevOps. The result presents ways to define DevOps, some tools and methods on how to adopt DevOps within an organisation and some perceived benefits and challenges of adopting DevOps. The contribution of the thesis provides an overall understanding of DevOps and its core principles and practices. The contribution also includes, approaches for adopting DevOps, the premise behind its adoption and obstacles that may occur during the process.