How to Increase DevOps Productivity with Observability

The “shift left” movement in software delivery and integration has evolved since its introduction in the early 2000s. Traditionally driven by the need to improve system quality and security, organizations are now embracing the shift to provide greater visibility, developer productivity, and speed to release.

Australian organisations are introducing observability into development and testing, proactively identifying and addressing performance, risk and reliability issues earlier. According to New Relic’s 2023 Observability Forecast, one of the top drivers of observability in Australia and New Zealand (ANZ) was security, governance, risk and compliance (43%).

While observability helps reduce the risk of deploying problematic code, the practice improves processes, collaboration to increase efficiency and effectiveness. In fact, the same New Relic study found that the biggest benefits of observability for ANZ organizations were increased operational efficiency (42%) and improved system uptime and reliability (36%).

Understanding the Five Layers of DevOps Productivity
DevOps productivity can be viewed as five distinct layers of the pyramid that play a role in achieving greater efficiency in each phase of the software development life cycle (SDLC). Each layer builds on the other and is essential to achieving optimal productivity:

1. Code quality and maintainability – Maintaining high code quality is key to DevOps productivity, facilitating faster development and bug resolution. Observability offers insight into code execution and performance, helping developers identify and resolve issues effectively. Integrated code analysis tools can improve software quality by identifying potential issues early in the development process.
2. Continuous Integration and Continuous Deployment (CI/CD) Processes CI/CD pipelines are an integral part of modern development, automating tasks and providing rapid feedback, thereby increasing DevOps productivity. Integrated observability solutions help monitor pipeline performance, identifying bottlenecks and correlating data with application performance to effectively optimize deployment processes.
3. Infrastructure and system performance – Infrastructure and system performance is critical to DevOps productivity, requiring real-time visibility into metrics such as CPU utilization and network latency to quickly resolve bottlenecks and optimize system performance. Visualizing the interdependencies between infrastructure components helps developers pinpoint performance issues and improve overall system performance.
4. Collaboration and communication – Effective communication between development, operations and stakeholders is key to DevOps productivity, preventing duplication of effort. Shared dashboards and real-time performance data, while integration with communication tools streamlines issue resolution, ensuring effective teamwork.
5. Monitoring and alarming – Proactive monitoring and alerting are essential to maintaining DevOps productivity, enabling rapid issue resolution and minimizing downtime. Advanced capabilities such as anomaly detection and machine learning (ML)-based predictions enable developers to proactively resolve emerging issues, ensuring system stability and increasing productivity.

Developer Experience is the Foundation for DevOps Productivity
Developer experience, supported by full-stack observation tools, can unlock new areas of productivity and impact speed to market. Organizations should adopt processes that allow teams to do their best work without worrying about putting out fires or finding a needle in a haystack.

• Set up effective monitoring and notifications – Leveraging full stack visibility combined with meaningful and tailored notifications is key to success.
• Implement security early in the software development lifecycle (SDLC) Testing code for vulnerabilities early in the development cycle helps streamline processes and avoid delays caused by separate security tests that typically occur later in the cycle. Automated tools like Interactive Application Security Testing (IAST) enable development teams to find, fix, and validate high-risk vulnerabilities early in the development process, so they can build more secure applications and ship code faster.
• Implementing a culture of continuous improvement – Implementing a culture of continuous improvement in software involves accepting feedback, adopting iterative development practices, and using observability tools to collect, analyze, and respond to insights. By fostering a culture that values ​​collaboration, communication, and agility, organizations can continually improve their processes and products, ultimately leading to better software quality and business success.
• Regularly review and improve development processes – This includes conducting retrospectives to assess what went well and what can be improved through data analysis and seamless metric tracking. After retrospectives, teams determine what needs to be improved, implementing changes to streamline workflows and improve collaboration, often guided by data-driven decisions and an observational mindset.

DevOps productivity is a cornerstone of business success because it can achieve cost efficiencies, improved software quality, and a better developer experience. As the software landscape continues to demand speed and efficiency, organizations that embrace observability are well-positioned to reap the benefits of increased developer productivity.