In this concluding article in my four-part journey on how organisations can become smarter for a digitally-driven work environment, my focus turns to the most critical element of all – teams.
While data, platforms and coding are all critical, it is the human resources driving this change that will be fundamental for this new world of work.
People are no longer office-bound. They can be just as productive working from anywhere they have a reliable internet connection. And while some have had difficulties transitioning to this environment, IT teams and developers have been doing so for quite some time.
This is not to say it has been a smooth process for them but at least they are familiar with working in remote locations.
Fundamentally, the challenge to all employees is to ensure collaboration takes place more effectively than in the past, especially with a predominantly hybrid workforce.
After all, how can companies ensure their teams work together if they are spread across different geographic locations? Smarter teams are therefore a cornerstone for smarter organisations.
Culture shock
While the technology is there to enable distributed work, it has been a culture shock to employees across all departments.
Frequent water cooler chats and informal discussions between colleagues over coffee have given way to virtual meetings and video conferencing. And while the techies might be fine with this, most workers at the organisation need to get their heads around how this is impacting on their teamwork.
Furthermore, IT teams and developers do not operate in a vacuum. The impact on DevOps efficiency during the past two years has not been insignificant.
The best technology in the world means little without the people driving the code.
Development work needs input from all departments if solutions are to deliver on their requirements. This requires DevOps and other departments to integrate more closely than before, even if it is via virtual means.
Take the recruitment and onboarding process as an example. Human resource departments have been appointing people (especially during the tight lockdown period) remotely. A person might have been working at a company for months without meeting anybody face-to-face.
DevOps has been critical in this regard to create the application environment that optimises the process, while ensuring people can remain productive no matter where they are connecting to the corporate network from.
Testing times
Of course, the best technology in the world means little without the people driving the code. They must have the right set of skills, tools and processes in place. The integration of data, computing, coding and people are therefore essential for the establishment of a smarter organisation.
The remote environment also requires a level of agility previously not considered. As people use different devices to perform their work, access resources using different channels, and operate under a myriad of unique conditions, the DevOps teams must test applications more often and faster than ever.
Automation has certainly helped, but it is by no means sufficient. A balance must be had between machine learning and artificial intelligence-based testing and those done by DevOps team members.
It is not about working harder for DevOps but working smarter. This extends to the testing environment as well.
Using an artificial intelligence environment can help with frequent application changes as the environment evolves and more employees adopt hybrid work.
Catering for on-premises employees and remote ones are putting resources under pressure if they are unable to keep up with the rate of change required.
No code or low code solutions become a powerful ally in this regard. This extends testing beyond only DevOps teams. Now, business analysts and subject matter experts can contribute to the testing environment with no coding skills required.
Combining DevOps and business resources will result in a more comprehensive environment delivering tightly integrated solutions for all organisational departments.
Practise makes perfect
According to some, there are several DevOps practices to remain cognisant of. These include continuous development, continuous testing, continuous integration, continuous delivery and continuous deployment.
The secret sauce tying all these together is that of the human resources used.
People are critical to the success of any organisation. This is even more so the case in a distributed working environment where physical interaction is limited.
Yes, the technology is the enabler, but it is the teams that make everything work together. Those teams must operate smarter and with more agility. Using a foundation built around data, computing and code will help significantly.
As teams embrace the smarter world of work driven by a world of code, companies can realise growth more effectively and differentiate themselves from their competitors on a human level.
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