What is DevOps: Practices, Methodology, and Tools

21 May 2025

A software development methodology is a set of principles, approaches, and tools used to organize and manage the software creation process. It defines how the team works, how members interact and divide responsibilities, how product quality is controlled, and more.

A methodology aims to regulate the development process and ensure the project is delivered according to the requirements, timelines, and budget.

Various software development methodologies exist, from the Waterfall model to Extreme Programming. One such methodology is DevOps.

In this article, we’ll explore what DevOps is, why it’s needed in software delivery, what problems it solves, and the core concepts behind the methodology. We’ll also cover the role of the DevOps engineer and their responsibilities within a team and development process.

What is DevOps?

DevOps is a relatively new software development concept rapidly gaining popularity and gradually replacing traditional development methodologies. In 2020, the global DevOps market was valued at around $6 billion. By 2027, according to ResearchAndMarkets, it’s expected to grow to $25 billion.

The definition of DevOps is broad and not easy to pin down, especially compared to other areas of IT.

What is DevOps in simple terms? It’s a methodology where Development, Operations, and Testing intersect and merge. But such a definition raises several valid questions:

Where do the boundaries of DevOps begin and end?
Which parts of development, testing, and maintenance fall outside of DevOps?
Why is it necessary to link these processes?

We’ll try to answer those below.

The Traditional Software Release Process

Development, testing, and operations are the three main phases of the software release lifecycle. Let’s examine them more closely.

Whenever we develop software, we aim to deliver a working product to end users. This goal is consistent across methodologies—whether it's Waterfall, Agile, or any other: the end goal is to create and deliver a product.

Let’s consider the traditional Waterfall model for application development — from idea to deployment:

A software idea is born.
The idea turns into a list of business requirements for the product.
Developers write code and build the application.
Testers verify its functionality and return it for revisions if needed.
Once ready, the application needs to be delivered to users. For a web app, this includes building, configuring the server and environment, and deploying.
After deployment, users start using the app. Ongoing support ensures the app is user-friendly and performs well under load.
After release comes the improvement phase — adding features, optimizing, and fixing bugs. This cycle repeats with each update.

One of DevOps’ primary goals is to make this cycle faster and more reliable. Let’s look at the challenges it addresses and how.

Problems with the Waterfall Model

In the Waterfall model, teams may face several issues that slow down the process, require significant effort to overcome, or introduce errors.

1. Poor collaboration between developers, operations, and testers

As mentioned earlier, the release cycle involves development, testing, and operations. Each has its own responsibilities. But without collaboration:

Developers may write code that isn’t deployment-ready.
Operations may lack insight into how the app works.
Testers might face delays due to insufficient documentation.

These gaps lead to increased Time to Market (TTM) and higher budgets.

2. Conflicting priorities

Development and operations don’t work closely in the Waterfall model. Developers want to innovate, while operations want stability. Since operations aren’t part of the development phase, they need more time to assess changes, creating friction and slowing down releases.

3. Idle teams

One of the key characteristics of the waterfall model is its sequential nature. First, developers write the code, then testers check it, and only after that does the operations team deploy and maintain the application.

Because of this step-by-step structure, there can be idle periods for different teams. For example, while testers check the application, developers wait for feedback and issues to fix. At the deployment stage, testers might review the entire product rather than a small update, which takes significantly more time. As a result, some teams may find themselves without tasks to work on.

All these issues lead to longer release cycles and inflated budgets. Next, we’ll look at how DevOps helps address these problems—and how it does so.

How DevOps Solves Waterfall Problems

DevOps aims to minimize the above issues through automation, collaboration, and process standardization, making it easier and faster to integrate improvements.

DevOps combines approaches, practices, and tools to streamline and accelerate product delivery. Because the concept is broad, different companies implement DevOps differently. Over time, common toolsets and practices have emerged across the industry.

One common practice is introducing a DevOps engineer, responsible for creating communication and alignment between teams, and ensuring smooth product releases.

What Does a DevOps Engineer Do?

A DevOps engineer aims to create and maintain an optimized application release pipeline. Here's how they do that:

Automation and CI/CD

DevOps's cornerstone is the development, testing, and deployment automation. This forms a CI/CD pipeline — Continuous Integration and Continuous Deployment.

Key DevOps stages and tools:

Code: Managed in a shared repository (e.g., GitLab), facilitating automation and collaboration.
Testing: Code changes are automatically tested using predefined test suites. If successful, the code moves to the build stage.
Build: Code is compiled into a deployable application using tools like npm (JavaScript), Maven or Gradle (Java).
Containerization & Orchestration: Apps are containerized (commonly with Docker) for consistent environments.For small setups, use Docker Compose; for large-scale setups, use Kubernetes. Artifacts are stored in repositories like Nexus or Docker Hub.
Deployment: Tools like Jenkins automate app deployment.

The result is a process where code changes are continually tested, integrated, and delivered to users.

Infrastructure Management

Thanks to CI/CD, teams can automatically deploy apps and updates to servers. Cloud platforms are often preferred over physical servers, offering better automation, scaling, and environment management.

Monitoring

Real-time monitoring ensures application availability and performance. Tools like Prometheus and Nagios track system metrics and availability.

Infrastructure as Code (IaC)

Instead of manually configuring infrastructure, DevOps uses IaC tools like Terraform to automate and standardize environments.

Scripts

Scripts automate adjacent processes like backups. Tools:

OS-specific: Bash (Linux), PowerShell (Windows)
Cross-platform: Python, Go, Ruby (Python is most popular)

Version Control

DevOps uses version control for application code and infrastructure (e.g., Terraform configs).

Important: Terraform stores sensitive data (e.g., passwords) in state files; these must not be stored in public repositories.

Cross-Team Collaboration

A major DevOps goal is to improve collaboration between departments. Shared tools, standards, and processes enable better communication and coordination.

For example, DevOps acts as a bridge between development and operations, unifying workflows and expectations.

Why Businesses Should Implement DevOps

Benefits of DevOps:

Speed: Automated testing, building, and deployment enable faster release cycles without sacrificing quality. This improves agility and market responsiveness.
Predictability & Quality: Frequent, automated releases mean more reliable delivery timelines and better budget control.
Lower Maintenance Costs: Automated infrastructure management and monitoring reduce downtime and labor, improving SLA compliance.

Challenges:

Organizational Change: Implementing DevOps may require cultural and structural shifts, along with training and adaptation.
Automation Risks: Poorly implemented automation can introduce new problems — misconfigured scripts, faulty pipelines — so thorough testing is essential.
Investment Required: DevOps needs upfront investment in tools, technologies, and training.

Conclusion

DevOps enables an automated, collaborative environment for development, testing, and deployment. It helps teams release apps faster, with higher quality and reliability.

If you’re considering integrating DevOps into your development process, Hostman offers services like cloud servers and Kubernetes, which can reduce your workload and streamline operations.