Thumbnail image for an article on DevSecOps, featuring a computer screen with a coding interface and security lock icon, representing the integration of security practices into the software delivery process.

What is DevSecOps and how does it improve the software development process

by with No Comment As a DevOps

DevSecOps is a relatively new software development and delivery approach that focuses on integrating security into the entire software delivery process. By combining development, safety, and operations, DevSecOps aims to improve collaboration and communication between teams and ensure security is built into the software from the ground up. This can lead to faster and more efficient software delivery and enhanced security for the organization.

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Current problems in the software development process

Lack of collaboration and communication between teams

In a traditional software development process, teams often operate in silos, leading to poor communication and collaboration. This can lead to delays and inefficiencies in the software delivery process.

Difficulties in integrating security into the development process

We often think of security as a separate, isolated function in the software development process. This can make it difficult for teams to integrate security into their work, leading to potential security vulnerabilities in the software.

Lengthy and inefficient software development process

The software development process can be fast and efficient with a hands-on approach. However, this can lead to delays and higher costs for the company.

Risk of security breaches

Without adequate security measures, there is a risk of security breaches that can damage the company's reputation and lead to costly remediation.

The benefits of implementing a DevSecOps platform

Increased efficiency, improved collaboration and enhanced security

One of the key benefits of implementing a DevSecOps platform is accelerating the software development process. By integrating security into the development and deployment pipeline, organizations can identify and address potential security issues earlier in the process. This can save time and resources by allowing teams to identify and fix issues before they become major problems.

Another benefit of a DevSecOps platform is improved collaboration between teams. In traditional software development, security is often an isolated function. With DevSecOps, security becomes a shared responsibility for all teams involved in the software development process. This leads to better communication and collaboration.

In addition to increased efficiency and improved collaboration, a DevSecOps platform can also improve security. By integrating security into the development and deployment process, organizations can ensure that security is built into the software. This can help prevent security breaches and reduce overall risk to the business.

For more info on DevSecOps and security, check out our article: The role of security in DevSecOps

Real-world examples of successful DevSecOps implementations

There are numerous examples of companies that have successfully implemented and benefited from a DevSecOps platform. For example, Capital One implemented a DevSecOps platform to improve team collaboration and communication, resulting in faster and more efficient software delivery. Similarly, eBay has adopted a DevSecOps approach to improve the security of its software and reduce the risk of security breaches.

How to measure the effectiveness of your DevSecOps platform

Once you have implemented a DevSecOps platform, measuring its effectiveness is essential to ensure it is delivering the desired benefits. To measure the effectiveness of a DevSecOps platform, you can use several metrics, including

  • Time to detect and fix security vulnerabilities: This metric measures how quickly your team can identify and fix potential security issues. A lower time to vulnerability detection and remediation indicates that your DevSecOps platform is working effectively.
  • Number of security breaches: This metric measures the number of security breaches in your organization. A lower number of security breaches indicates that your DevSecOps platform is effectively preventing security issues.
  • Time to Release: This metric measures the time it takes your team to release new software. A lower time-to-release shows that your DevSecOps platform enables faster and more efficient software delivery.

In summary, the benefits of implementing a DevSecOps platform are numerous. Organizations can reap the rewards of adopting a DevSecOps approach, from increased efficiency and improved collaboration to enhanced security. If you are considering implementing a DevSecOps platform, now is the time to take the next step and revolutionize your software delivery process.

Technical debt

Technical debt in agile software development

by with One Comment Agilesoftware development

Imagine you are driving a car and you notice that your brakes don't work properly anymore. But instead of repairing them directly, you first decide to wash your car, install a new radio and temporarily repair your brakes with old parts. This way, with your prioritization, the execution of other tasks and the quick & dirty solution, you build up a Technical Debt (Technical Dept). 

Technical debt over time

Sooner or later, however, this approach takes its revenge, since the technical debt does not increase linearly as expected, but exponentially over time. 

By using more and more of these quick & dirty approaches within development, the mountain of debt gets bigger and bigger. This ultimately leads to countless tasks having to be processed in order to solve the problems.

This development is basically also due to the fact that the use of agile working methods and DevOps is increasing the pressure from stakeholders to achieve more in ever shorter periods of time. 

This article will go into more detail about what exactly technical debt is and what causes it. How it affects a product or service. And how to manage it effectively.

What are technical debts?

Whenever unclean paths are taken, a new debt is incurred towards all stakeholders involved. This debt usually becomes visible when systems or software used do not function properly or run unstably. Subsequently, considerable additional effort is required to correct these errors.

This can be further simplified by viewing this debt as the gap between well thought out, designed, developed and tested software and software that is just cobbled together.

How can you recognize technical debt?

  • Lack of or no documentation: Nowadays, work is supposed to be fast and agile. Documentation is often left behind. However, this leads to the fact that usually only a few know what status the project already has. Other or new employees are left out and work stubbornly on it. 
  • We'll deal with it laterSure, projects have to be completed. But as the saying goes, "Get it right, or you'll do it twice".
  • copy and paste from other projects
  • Shortcuts and savings: Quality control and testing are not performed, for example, due to deadlines
  • Bugfix and minor adjustments take longer to implement

What are the causes of the buildup of technical debt?

Lack of vision or concept of the finished software

It should be clear from the beginning what is to be developed. If this is missing, there is very often rework on the design, user interface, architecture or infrastructure. This leads to problems and quality in the code during the entire project.

Missing or inadequate documentation of requirements

Often software requirements are only vaguely or poorly described. This leads to teams and employees not knowing 100 % what exactly is to be achieved. This creates additional workload and thus new technical debt.

Lack of communication and high expectations from management

At the start of a project, with new teams or when working with external service providers, it can happen that expectations of the project team are too high and the first results are to be achieved as quickly as possible. Therefore, it is important to communicate the maximum workload as early as possible and to focus on quality instead of quantity.

Insufficient cooperation between employees

Nowadays, software development usually works with agile methods such as SCRUM. This leads to the assumption that all employees involved have mastered this methodology and can work together right away. This is often not the case and quickly leads to miscommunication and frustration in the team. Tickets get stuck and / or are only sparsely processed. And new issues are added daily.

Bottleneck effect - lack of employees, time and too many tasks as obstacles

It still becomes problematic to reduce the "debt" when employees themselves become the bottleneck in the company. It can often be the case that only a few employees are familiar with systems and know how to maintain them. If these employees are then prevented from working, fall ill or, in the worst case, terminate their employment, no one knows their way around the system and a complete standstill occurs. Such a situation should be identified at an early stage and actively countered.

Change of the technology used or a new version

Every day there are updates that cause changes in the code and approach. As a result, existing code blocks may become obsolete, no longer needed, or cause problems. This has to be fixed in another iteration and again leads to technical debt.

Lack of quality control process

For both small and large teams, quality in code always needs to be checked to see if all the pieces work perfectly together in the end. Lack of quality assurance processes ultimately causes extra work and more tasks to fight problems.

The causes that lead to technical debt being built up can be many and varied. The ones listed here are a first clue to take direct and proactive action.

How can technical debt be dealt with and reduced?

Regardless of how technical debt comes about, there are some recommended actions to proactively avoid its occurrence.

prioritization of tasks

If failures have been identified, they must first be documented and then prioritized. How these omissions are prioritized and addressed ultimately depends on the framework created (team, working method, strategic decisions or the tools used). 

In agile teams, it is usually already the case that the priority of tasks is determined in daily meetings or sprints. Recurring issues and other tickets are therefore usually given a higher priority and processed in a timely manner. In addition, the prioritization of tasks is also determined by the impact of the problem on the company as a whole (e.g. impact on usability, sales or experience) or how important a solution is for the performance of the product or software. The remaining tickets (e.g. irrelevant for the current Sprint) should be stored in the Backlog at the highest position and included in the Sprint in the next meetings. 

Development of a code style guide

A simple way to avoid technical debt is to establish guidelines before the project starts. This should ensure that several different approaches are not used.

Ideally, these should define exactly how code should look. This means, for example, where commas, breaks or brackets must be placed. This offers the additional advantage that the structure and layout of the code are clear.

code refactoring

In the heat of the moment, it can happen that code is written without paying attention to its structure or readability. This makes it difficult to keep track of the progress of the project, fix bugs or implement new features. To get a grip on the situation, code refactoring offers an approach to optimize and revise the existing code step by step.

Tools for the visualization of technical debt

With the help of some tools, omissions or structural problems in the code can be avoided right from the start or at least checked and optimized afterwards. One of them is SonarQube.

This tool analyzes your code for quality, security, and indicates where code segments are duplicated, for example. Furthermore, it gives a time estimate of how long it takes to reduce technical debt within the code.

SonarQube provides the ability to detect future technical debt during the software build process and can be configured to give builds a "failed" status if the technical debt is too large.

Do not allow individual code ownership

As mentioned above, it is not a good idea to have only one or a few person(s)/developer(s) responsible (and irreplaceable) for important system. If there is a problem with the web application, the code owner is the person who has to fix it. Code ownership is bad for code owners because it stunts their and the company's growth. Also, code ownership causes problems for the organization and for the code owners. If no one knows how a system works, no one can give effective code reviews. Worse, the code may not be reviewed at all.

When the team is responsible for the code, everyone can help make design decisions. Everyone can participate in the system design discussion, contribute ideas, and share responsibility for those decisions. Further, it's no longer such a big deal if an employee is no longer involved in the project or is sick. 

Summary

One must be aware that "technical debt" initially offers no obvious and tangible added value and it takes time to reduce it. Furthermore, most results will only become measurable and visible over time. However, this does not mean lying on one's lazy skin and hoping for the best. In the end, you should ask yourself for which debts it makes sense to reduce, which ones have the biggest impact on business or economic factors and which ones would have no impact at all.