2018 State of DevOps Report: Essential Database Practices for Successful Software Delivery

© 2018, DevOps Research and Assessment, LLC. All Rights Reserved.2
What we’ll cover today
● Webinar
● Q&A
● Upcoming!
● DevOps Enterprise Summit 2018 Las Vegas
● Check out Datical www.datical.com/demo

Introductions - Your hosts today!
Dr. Nicole Forsgren
Lead investigator, PhD
CEO and Chief Scientist, DORA
Diet Coke lover*
Robert Reeves
Co-founder and CTO, Datical
* Nicole wrote this slide

About DORA
Our mission is to help technology organizations improve the productivity
of software development and delivery through scientific research.
• Annual State of DevOps Reports
• Customized Assessments to drive strategy and benchmark against
industry peers
– Our customers include the best, most innovative organizations in finance,
healthcare, telecommunications, retail, and government around the world
Founded by pioneers in DevOps and technology development

About Datical
Datical Brings Velocity to Software Development
“Our goal was to decrease the release cycle of
our TV scheduling app from 5 weeks to 2. That
was impossible because it took more than 2
weeks just to do the database portion - until
we brought in Datical”
- John Comas, Manager Platform DevOps, NBCUniversal
SELECT CLIENTS
We support the most popular database platforms and automation tools:

● Largest and longest-running research of its kind
● 5 years of rigorous research, surveying 30,000+ professionals worldwide
● Investigates practices that lead to higher software delivery performance
● Higher software delivery performance = powerful business outcomes
● Only report to include performance benchmarks with cluster analysis
● Predictive analysis to identify specific improvement strategies
The Accelerate: State of DevOps Report

© 2018, DevOps Research and Assessment, LLC. All Rights Reserved.7 © 2018, DevOps Research and Assessment, LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Software Delivery and
Operational performance
(SDO performance)
2018 - Key Themes
SDO performance is the driver that
unlocks competitive advantages for IT
organizations.
SDO performance is the practice
behind not just creating, but also
operating, software in ways that
generate powerful business outcomes.

Identify the key
Technical Practices
that drive SDO performance
2018 - Key Themes
The Accelerate: State of DevOps
Report confirms findings from previous
years.
New for 2018, key technical practices
include:
● Monitoring and observability
● Continuous testing
● Database change management
● "Shifting left" on security

Identify the key
Cultural Practices
that drive SDO performance
2018 - Key Themes
The Accelerate: State of DevOps
Report confirms the Westrum cultural
model from previous years.
New for 2018! How to influence
culture through organizational work:
● Influencing culture through
autonomy & trust
● Creating a culture of learning
(retrospectives)

Key Findings - Elite Performers

Key Findings - Year over Year

2018: Key Differences

Adding Availability
Ability for teams to ensure their
product or service can be accessed
by end users
Software delivery +
operational performance is
SDO performance
Elite performers are
3.5X more likely to have strong
availability practices

Availability and the database
go hand-in-hand
The app is not ready until both
app code and database code
have been deployed
Adding Availability:
the Database story

Elite Performers
Data shows a new 4th high
performance group:
elite performers
Proportion of high performers has
grown YoY, but the bar for
excellence remains high
Elite performers are still able to
optimize for throughput and stability

Key Topics of Interest

New 2018 Performance Benchmarks

Doing Cloud Right
It's not just about adopting cloud, it’s
using cloud in essential ways that
matters.
Only 22% of teams are doing cloud
right
Teams that use these essentials
characteristics are 23X more likely
to be elite performers
AGREED OR STRONGLY AGREED
On-demand self-service
Broad network access
Resource Pooling
Rapid elasticity
Measured service

Open Source Software
The data shows that using open
source software is correlated with
high SDO performance
Teams that use open source
software are 1.75X more likely to be
elite performers
Those same teams are also
1.5X more likely to expand their
open source usage in future

Industry Doesn’t Matter
Industry does not matter for
achieving high performance for
software delivery
High performers exist in both non-
regulated and
highly regulated industries alike
Any team in any industry has the
potential to achieve a high degree of
SDO performance

Don’t Forget the
Database
Integrating database work into
software delivery positively
contributes to SDO performance
Integrating database practices look
much like integrating ops work in
early days: communication, config
management, including teams,
visibility
Teams could think about this like
“shifting left”

Don’t Forget the Database
Change
Management
Simulator
Simulate the impact
of database changes
before they are
deployed
Dynamic Rules
Engine
Automatically enforce
DBA rules across all
proposed database
changes
Database Code
Packager
Creates database
continuous
integration by
unifying application
and database
changes
Deployment
Management
Console
Automatically monitor
the status of every
database deployment
across the enterprise
Configuration
Management
Including Teams Visibility Communication

Don’t Forget the Database
And one more thing!
Database management isn’t
differentially important.
aka
Database is important for everyone

An Evolution in Testing
Automated testing played a role in
prior years’ research. We
investigated if the evolving role of
testing in continuous delivery
contributes.
Continuous testing extends
automated testing practices and
positively contributes to SDO
performance

Looking Into Our Systems
Teams with a comprehensive
monitoring and observability
solution were 1.3 times more likely
to be an elite performer.
Having a monitoring and
observability solution positively
contributed to SDO performance.
Fun stats fact: monitoring and
observability load together.

Deeper Analysis

Surprises

Misguided Performers
Some teams optimize for caution:
low deploy frequency, high lead
times, and low deployment failure
That same group also reports the
longest times to restore service
for outages (1-6 months!)
Large-batch changes add
complexity & no one thinks it will
happen to them, but 5% of teams
suffer the consequences

Outsourcing
Low performing teams are
3.9X more likely to use
functional outsourcing than
elite teams
Elite teams rarely adopt
functional outsourcing
Misguided performers have the
highest use of outsourcing
of all groups

The J-Curve of Transformation
Teams begin
transformation
and identify
quick wins
Automation helps low
performers progress to
medium performers
Automation increases test
requirements, which are dealt
with manually. A mountain of
technical debt blocks progress.
Technical debt and increased
complexity cause additional manual
controls and layers of process around
changes, slowing work
Relentless improvement
work leads to excellence
and high performance!
High and elite
performers leverage
expertise and learn from
their environments to
see jumps in productivity

Major Takeaways

Ways to Improve SDO Performance
● Adopting essential cloud characteristics is key to truly realizing benefits
● Organizations need to make smart investments in technology, lean
practices and culture -- holistic transformation is important
● The data on functional outsourcing is in, and it’s decisive: this is not a
winning bet
● Optimize for throughput, stability, and availability

Download the full
report
https://cloudplatformonline.com/2018-state-of-devops.html

Report Authors
The DORA Cofounders
Dr. Nicole Forsgren: PhD, sysadmin, scientist, author of Accelerate, named top 10 influencer in DevOps
Jez Humble: Author of Accelerate, Continuous Delivery, Lean Enterprise, and The DevOps Handbook
Gene Kim: Founder of Tripwire Inc, author of Accelerate, The Phoenix Project, DevOps Handbook, & more
Many thanks to George Miranda and Xavier Velasquez for their contributions to the report. Cheryl Coupe was our
copyeditor and Siobhan Doyle did design. We also thank those who assisted with research advice and guidance.

Gold Sponsors
Diamond Sponsor

Questions?
https://cloudplatformonline.com/2018-state-of-devops.html

2018 State of DevOps Report: Essential Database Practices for Successful Software Delivery

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