If you were to graph the traditional software development lifecycle on a piece of paper, the left side of
the graph would likely include tasks such as design and development, while the right side would likely
include user acceptance, stress testing and production staging. To shift left in DevOps implies a desire
to take many of those tasks that often happen toward the end of the application development process
and move them into earlier stages.
In some cases, this might mean to incorporate static code analysis routines in every build. Another way
to perform a DevOps shift left is to create production-ready artifacts at the end of every Agile sprint so
that users and stakeholders can get incremental updates on how development is progressing. Proper
DevOps means shifting left as much as possible.
4. The acronym CAMS is often used to describe the core tenets of DevOps. What does it stand
for?
The CAMS acronym stands for culture, automation, measurement and sharing.
5. Is a culture change a requirement or a result of doing DevOps?
The term culture describes the processes and practices people use. And culture can only change when
people change the processes and practices they routinely employ. The introduction of distributed
version control system tools, such as Git, deployments with Docker instead of the use of monolithic
application servers, and the use of CI tools, such as Jenkins or Maven, in the software development
lifecycle will result in a culture change. But these changes are the result of the introduction of new
DevOps tools, not a prerequisite.
Any cultural change that DevOps precipitates is an output of using new tools and adopting new
processes. It is not an input.
It should be noted that many DevOps evangelists would take serious umbrage with this sample DevOps
interview question and answer. Be prepared to argue and defend both sides of the culture argument.
6. Name three important DevOps KPIs.
There are many KPIs that can be used to measure DevOps success. Three of the most common DevOps
KPIs are:
• mean time to failure recovery
• deployment frequency
• percentage of failed deployments
7. Describe three DevOps anti-patterns
One DevOps anti-pattern is to reduce the silo-based isolation of development and operations with a
new DevOps team that silos itself from other parts of the organization.
The first DevOps anti-pattern mentioned leads to the second one, which is failing to include all aspects
of the organization in an ongoing DevOps transition. Organizations embarking upon a DevOps
transition should have some type of DevOps center of excellence that makes sure all tiers of the
organization -- from IT executives to project managers to members of the security and hardware
provisioning teams -- embrace and employ DevOps practices.