DevOps is Coming

DevOps is the practice of integrating software development and IT operations to develop, maintain, and advance a software system. So many systems that we work with today are practicing something approaching DevOps, if not outright embracing the philosophy. One noticeable change is that we are seeing fewer products with explicit software releases; rather, products are improved and expanded regularly and sometimes even daily.

GitLab Facilitates DevOps

At Prospect Press we make a point of attending Information Systems conferences to meet all of you, share good times, and learn more about the field. There is a new group that has been attending these meetings regularly, GitLab. Their state-of-the-art product is a software development environment explicitly designed and evolving to best serve DevOps. This product is available for free to educational programs. Click here to learn more. Christina Hupy, Ph.D. and Manager of Education Programs, and PJ Metz, Education Evangelist, have also been offering to provide a free guest lecture in your class to help everyone learn about the DevOps lifecycle and a bit about GitLab straight from the source. Click here to sign up.

DevOps Relevant Pedagogy

Meanwhile, classroom pedagogy needs to catch up to IS Practice. Is anyone surprised? Our recent SA&D textbook by Spurrier and Topi anticipates this direction, to some extent. You can start to think about DevOps as the next step beyond agile SA&D. Chapter 16 of Spurrier and Topi's textbook addresses "System Change Management." We have been told that some professors have used this as a starting point for a DevOps course. Click here to learn more about SA&D in an Age of Options.

But there is much more to DevOps than that, and classroom methodology needs to evolve further. We have been hearing about some explicit DevOps classes. We have also been hearing about Systems Development and Deployment [SD&D(?)] classes that cover both SA&D and ISPM and have the potential to take on a DevOps perspective.

If you are teaching such a course, we would love to hear from you. We are looking for authors, reviewers, and creative syllabi related to this area of major potential growth and impact to the IS Discipline. Contact Beth Golub if you want to start a conversation.