The State of DevOps Report: Insights and Trends

The field of IT has been going through massive rounds of disruptions. One field where the intensity of the change is high is the DevOps domain. This space is evolving fast to cater to shifting marketing demands and changing customer preferences. 

The changes happening in the world of DevOps are subtly captured in the State of DevOps Report. It highlights the main trends and insights in this domain. The report is published by Puppet the company behind the highly popular software configuration management tool that delivers immense value in the DevOps process.  

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Evolution of DevOps

The key questions put forth in this report included 

• The role of security and compliance in shaping the team behind platform engineering

• Which tools power up the platform engineering team

• Ways to capture the essence of the team’s success

• The level of investment by companies into creating and running this team.

This report is highly useful for product managers and tech heads responsible for the successful implementation of DevOps. If you are in the tech space and want to know how platform engineering is having a radical and disruptive impact on DevOps, then this report is for you.

Also Read: What Does Product Managers Do?

Methodology Behind the State of DevOps Report

Puppet interviewed various IT practitioners and leaders. Their core area of focus was being involved in platform engineering within the firm. It collected data via an online survey between 24 August 2023 and 30 September 2023. Its one-month long survey gathered respondents from a panel as well as from random sampling.

It covered nearly all parts of the world. This included Europe, the Middle east, Asia-Pacific, and the Americas.  All in all, 474 respondents took part in the survey.

The report is authored by: 

• David Sandilands, (Principal Solutions Architect, Puppet)
• Margaret Lee (Manager, Product Management, Puppet).

Also Read: DevOps Change Management

Key Findings from the Latest Report

There were many interesting insights that came up from the survey. We will take a look at these now:

• Platform engineering drives many advantages for teams and the company

• More than 70% say that their chosen platform is 3+ years old. This signifies a high degree of ‘platform maturity’. Out of these, 10% have been using the same platform for a whopping 10+ years!

• There is a major disconnect between leadership and developers on the topic of embracing platform engineering. While leadership vouches for platform engineering, developers are not too keen.

• The main concern is security around these platforms.

• We see a lot of under-investment in building skills for managing these platforms. 

Trends Shaping the Future of DevOps

1. Platform engineering delivers many benefits to developers 

It lets developers write great codes instead of being burdened by discrete tools and processes. This domain results in a streamlined workflow that lets developers shine in a cross-functional team. Its 4 key benefits are-

• a - Increased productivity = 50%
• b - Better quality of software = 40%
• c - Reduced lead time for deployment = 36%
• d - More stable applications = 36%

2. Platform teams are considered valuable across the width and breadth of the organization. They are vital for delivering a collaborative environment for DevOps members to thrive.

• a - The platform team is important and is receiving continued investment = 65%
• b - The platform team is a “passion project,” and investment is based mainly on the extra time people have to offer for it = 16%

3. Product managers are vital in a DevOps team. They bring together the platform and tech team and bridge communication gaps. They also convert strategies to final plans. The top 3 skills they need are-

• a - Strategic thinking
• b - Ability to convert strategy into plans and objectives
• c - Collaboration skills and ability to work with other teams

4. Platform engineering is needed to bring about three core aspects-

• a - Automation for faster product delivery = 50%
• b - A Higher degree of security = 49%
• c - Support infrastructure = 48 %

Another interesting data point we saw was the misalignment of the cost related to the adoption of the platform. Lack of focus on cost and resources is a potential red flag. When the platform matures, cost will be a critical KPI. If there is poor focus on these areas, then there is a risk to the core presence of platform engineering within the organizational framework. 

Perhaps the biggest trend is the acute focus on security within the platforms. Companies are increasingly relying on platform teams to put out fires as well as create and manage security processes. Here are the top 5 areas of focus in security for the platform teams

• a - Problem solving / troubleshooting = 30%
• b - Build & enforce security processes = 28%
• c - Accelerate the org's cloud-native journey = 27%
• d - Optimize iteration speed / velocity = 26%
• e - Set & promote best practices = 25%

Rising regulations and risks mean that platform teams need to be proactive in their security stance rather than be reactive about it. 

These are all reasons that platform teams are embracing proactive security practices like:

• a - Enforcing software and tool versions = 51%
• b - Implementing organizational security benchmarks = 46%
• c - Continuously scanning for vulnerabilities = 42%
• 8 - There are many benefits of embedding security and compliance within the platform team help a company 
• a - Lowered risk by ensuring everything pushed out is compliant & secure = 59%
• b - Increased regulatory compliance has led to greater business growth = 50%
• c - Decreased time for devs needing to learn security & compliance baselines = 48%

Conclusion

This was a gist of the report and its key findings. If we were to summarize three key takeaways from this report, it would have to be the below:

What works?

1. Platform engineering has definitely improved developer productivity. 

2. Platform engineering has helped in infrastructure compliance. 

3. Non-platform engineering teams see a gain in faster software delivery. 

What are the challenges?

1. The alignment of cost and platform adoption seems to work inversely. This will emerge as a problem when the platform matures. 

2. Buying in from other developers is an ongoing challenge. 

3. Problems continue on poor feedback loops amongst various teams. This leads to a lower priority of internal user needs. 

If you want to take a deep dive into concepts of DevOps, you can also enrol in our DevOps Training. Here you will be taught theory by industry experts and also practical knowledge of how to tackle real-life challenges. 

Also Read: DevOps Life Cycle

FAQ

1. Who publishes the State of DevOps Report?

The report has been published every year since 2012, by Puppet by Perforce. This year’s edition had a focus on the evolution of platform engineering within DevOps. It is jointly authored by David Sandilands (Principal Solutions Architect at Puppet by Perforce) and Margaret Lee (Manager of Product Management at Puppet by Perforce)

2. What is the purpose of the State of DevOps Report?

The purpose of the report is to take a look at the impact of Platform engineering in the DevOps domain. The underlying aim is to see how tactics play out in this space and what value they deliver for organizations embracing platform engineering. 

3. How is the data collected for the State of DevOps Report?

Two types of samples were used to pick 474 final respondents for the survey. The first was a snowball sampling of IT practitioners. This was complemented by a third-party sample sourced from a panel provider that maintains a quality panel for market research purposes. All respondents were those who were actively involved in the company’s platform engineering teams.