With the end of health restrictions, many developers are favoring remote work. So how do you foster effective collaboration between on-premises and distributed teams? Here are three DevOps best practices that will help developers increase their productivity, increase their excellence, and optimize their well-being in the age of hybrid working.
A return to normal marked by hybrid working methods
During the pandemic, developers have put all their resources at the service of their business, sometimes even to the point of exhaustion. Nevertheless, they seem to have taken a liking to remote work since only 11% of them plan to return to the office today. As the current period is marked by a shortage of talent and the use of developers sometimes working in different time zones, it is up to companies to provide them with a working environment that promotes their productivity and efficiency.
This is where DevOps comes in, a development methodology that prioritizes close collaboration between traditionally siled teams and automates the software development lifecycle as much as possible.
1. Use automation to eliminate repetitive tasks
Distributed teams often struggle to collaborate, keep track of employees and projects, and manage teams. One of the best ways to alleviate these difficulties is to streamline the work using automated tools. As a developer, you’ve probably done automated testing and maybe even automated builds. An automation upgrade and familiarity with CI/CD workflows can make your job easier. Teams using an automated CI/CD platform can increase pull request merge requests by 36% and reduce merge time by 33%. When automating repetitive tasks like setting up environments, manipulating data user interfaces, or scripting application deployments, teams report getting 27% better results in open source and 43% better at work.
Various automated testing tools allow developers to speed up parts of their workflow, such as merging code or running tests. These tools can help teams work more efficiently, ensuring code compiles correctly and code that is pushed will perform well, making it easier to deploy to production. By adopting a good CI/CD platform, teams can test their code every time they push it to the server, helping to avoid potential errors.
2. Implement tools for more flexibility and speed
Tools, like the popular Git version control system, or preconfigured environments hosted in the cloud, can make it easier to write, test, build, and deploy software, no matter where you work. For developers who want to work remotely, using a cloud-hosted integrated development environment (IDE) has tremendous benefits. First, the fact that this IDE is hosted in the cloud lets you start coding in seconds on any computer, from iPad to Chromebook. It also provides the ability to collaborate on multiple development branches, deploy hundreds of changes per day, and quickly create development environments for new hires.
By integrating cloud-native tools into the development workflow, teams can streamline communication, ensure their applications are able to scale, and ensure that projects and organizations can continue to grow with a remote workforce. This is especially important considering that the number of remote jobs increased by 12% in 2021 compared to 2020.
3. Find a common language
Front-end development can be time-consuming and demanding of finesse, which can be complex with distributed teams. YAML, one of the main languages powering declarative automation, can help simplify front-end configuration and automate repetitive tasks. For example, YAML for the front-end is a technique used to define and describe the pages rendered in HTML by static site generators, a very useful way to save time. YAML can also be used to build automation workflows that can power multiple teams. They can thus work on a test server simultaneously instead of waiting their turn.
YAML is most useful because it’s a human-readable language, which means it’s an easy-to-write and easy-to-read language, without the brackets, braces, and the usual quotation marks. This makes it easier for developers to set up automations and CI/CD workflows. It’s also easier for teams to communicate about different parts of the workflow and what each part does, which is a big benefit for hybrid teams.
Learn to work again
Software is now an integral part of every facet of our lives, from autonomous vehicles to drone delivery systems, and more. However, developers only have a limited number of hours in a working day. By adopting a DevOps mindset, teams can enjoy global collaboration, communication, and teamwork. This approach is crucial for your software to successfully move from development to production. From hiring across geographies and time zones to investing in developer experience and well-being on the job, organizations that adopt these new methodologies can see a positive effect on productivity, satisfaction and talent retention.
Overall, embedding these practices into company culture can help foster collaboration and increase innovation, ensuring developers can perform at their best, regardless of location. of work. So they can continue to focus on what matters most: building great software.