DevOps has been established as a framework used by software development companies seeking to set mechanisms to automate their development processes. Consequently, over the last decade, many companies have adopted DevOps to support their project’s development process and perform continuous improvement tasks to ensure that it is applied correctly. To achieve this, companies are looking for solutions that allow them to evaluate the degree of implementation of DevOps in their internal processes. In this sense, the objective of this study focuses on identifying, through a systematic mapping of the literature, the mechanisms used to assess DevOps in software development companies. According to the above, the current state of knowledge related to the proposal of processes, models, techniques, tools, and methodological guides is presented to conduct the DevOps assessment. As a result, it is noted that there are multiple methodological solutions that seek to assess DevOps; however, a high degree of heterogeneity was evidenced in the identified solutions, resulting in the need to establish a clear framework that serves as the basis for proposing a generic, structured, and unambiguous DevOps assessment model applicable to software companies.

This article presents a model to complement the evaluation of DevOps in software companies. It was designed by harmonizing the elements of the DevOps process identified through a systematic mapping of the literature and aimed to know the state of the art of methodological solutions and tools to evaluate DevOps in the industry. The process elements were identified, compared, and integrated into a common process structure that was used to establish a total of 11 metrics using the Goal-Question-Metric approach. The model was evaluated by a focus group of expert DevOps professionals. They determined that the model is clear, easy to apply, and provides valuable information to companies to improve their DevOps practices.

This article presents a process to encourage and support the adoption of DevOps in small and medium software companies. The process was designed through the identification of elements suggested and identified in the literature through systematic mapping. The identified elements were harmonized, compared and integrated, resulting in a clear, homogeneous process without terminological conflicts composed of three sub-processes, roles, activities, artifacts, tools and process flows in BPMN as support for configuration management, integration, continuous deployment and monitoring from a fundamental and complementary approach of suggested practices. The proposed process was evaluated through a focus group made up of DevOps experts, who considered that the process is pertinent, clear, complete and applicable in small and medium-sized software companies. In short, the process describes a total of 82 activities, 16 artifacts, 9 roles and recommends 13 technological tools to support the automation of each of the activities related to each thread, which will guide professionals, companies and stakeholders to reduce the ambiguity and subjectivity in the understanding and adoption of DevOps. En este artículo se presenta un proceso para fomentar y apoyar la adopción de DevOps en pequeñas y medianas empresas de software. El proceso fue diseñado a través de la identificación de elementos sugeridos en la literatura por medio de un mapeo sistemático. Los elementos identificados fueron armonizados, comparados e integrados, dando como resultado un proceso claro, homogéneo y sin conflictos terminológicos compuesto por tres subprocesos, roles, actividades, artefactos, herramientas y flujos de proceso en BPMN como apoyo a la gestión de configuración, integración, despliegue y monitoreo continuo desde un enfoque fundamental y complementario de prácticas sugeridas. El proceso propuesto fue evaluado a través de un grupo focal conformado por expertos en DevOps, quienes consideraron que es pertinente, claro, completo y aplicable en pequeñas y medianas empresas de software. El proceso describe un total de 82 actividades, 16 artefactos, 9 roles y recomienda 13 herramientas tecnológicas para apoyar la automatización de cada una de las actividades relacionadas con cada subproceso, que permitirá guiar a los profesionales y las empresas para disminuir la subjetividad en la comprensión y adopción de DevOps.

DevOps Ontology - An ontology to support the understanding of DevOps in the academy and the software industry

En el desarrollo de software, la documentación es un proceso continuo en el cual se especifica qué hace el sistema, cómo lo hace y para quién lo hace, describiendo todas sus características desde diferentes perspectivas para facilitar la comprensión de todos los interesados. Sin embargo, esto no siempre se logra, debido a malas prácticas de documentación, lo cual lleva a un tipo de deuda técnica conocida como deuda de la documentación, relacionada con documentación faltante, inconsistente o incompleta que degrada la comprensión del sistema, afectando gravemente su desarrollo, mantenimiento y evolución. Este fenómeno parece agravarse en los enfoques ágiles, ya sea por una mala interpretación de los valores y principios ágiles, enfocándose en la entrega continua de software funcional más que en la documentación exhaustiva, o por desconocimiento de buenas prácticas de documentación. Si bien existen iniciativas que describen de forma general las causas, efectos y buenas prácticas para mitigar la deuda de documentación, aún hace falta comprender el impacto de este tipo de deuda para la industria de software y profundizar en una definición más completa en el desarrollo ágil de software. En ese sentido, se presentan los resultados de un mapeo sistemático que brinda una base sólida de conocimiento sobre la deuda de la documentación en el desarrollo ágil de software y permite identificar brechas u oportunidades de investigación en este tema.

The widespread use of DevOps in the industry has brought about the need to define mechanisms that allow for evaluating its adoption and usage in organizations. With the purpose of providing a solution to assess the degree of DevOps adoption in the software industry, this article presents a metrics model to determine the extent to which the proposed practices and values in DevOps are being fulfilled. The metrics model is the result of a systematic literature review and a harmonization process of initiatives proposed by other authors. This led to the definition of 11 metrics following the formalism proposed by the Goal-Question-Metric approach. To extend the validity of the model, this article presents the results of two case studies conducted in two software development companies.