Exploring the Critical Role of Automation in AppDev

AUSTIN, Texas, Sept. 25, 2018 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- Businesses demand faster times to market than ever before, especially when it comes to application development efforts. The days of pushing out updates in 12 to 16 months are no more, having been replaced with expectations for full application releases in just weeks and updates in only a few days. This has put tremendous pressure on development teams ? particularly those accustomed to a more manual development cycle. According to the experts at Coda Global, (http://www.coda.global), a cloud-native consultancy and application developer, making use of automation in the DevOps process is one way to significantly speed time to market, delivering well-built applications in the kinds of timeframes users now expect. David Angradi, Executive Vice President at Coda Global, was recently asked to explain the importance of automation in an educational video ? "The Critical Role of Automation in AppDev" ? for business and technology professionals produced by Cognistar as part of its extensive SmartPros WatchIT educational video library. To help businesses as they assess the role automation can play in their own development efforts, Coda Global has also put together a list of four steps to faster application releases.

"In our experience, automation is absolutely the key to successful application development," Angradi says. "The easier it is to take existing infrastructure and effectively serve it up as code that developers can grab and spin up and spin down and be able to run automated test cycles, the better ? and faster ? your AppDev process will be."

Coda Global experts say there are three major benefits to focusing on automation in the AppDev process: First, by tapping repeatable automated designs over and over again, developers will be able to construct applications faster. Second, by removing the manual nature of these repeatable tasks, there will be fewer errors from the start. And third, by automating an application's base-level components, developers and operations teams save time ? and money ? by simply re-using that already functioning and tested code.

Four Steps to Faster Application Releases
The challenge many organizations run into when trying to automate their AppDev processes is in selecting standardized toolsets and stringing together key automations in a logical fashion from development and production all the way through testing. To ensure things progress smoothly, Coda Global suggests development and operations teams kick off an AppDev project by sitting down together in a room to map out their shared goals and outcomes for the project, understand their current state, agree on standardized toolsets and create a roadmap. This may sound simplistic, but these are often-missed keys to success ? and a critical starting point before automation can be successfully utilized in DevOps processes.

1.    Define Goals and Outcomes: It should go without saying, but there are surprisingly large numbers of AppDev projects in which siloed development and operations teams jump straight to the implementation of tactics they have individually outlined without first sitting down together to define what the goals and outcome of the project should be. You can't map out the journey if you haven't agreed on where you're headed, so this is a crucial first step in any successful AppDev project ? whether or not it involves automation.
2.    Understand Current State: Next, it's important to honestly assess the team's current state. Automating the underlying infrastructure and all of the components required for faster times to market and continuous delivery is not second nature to everyone involved. What do your current tools look like ? on the development and operations sides? What do your processes look like? It's also important to assess the maturity of the skillsets you have on staff. Some people will easily adapt to this new DevOps style, while others may not. If you're going to use things like automation and orchestration to drive standardization, everyone has to be on board. Defining your team's capabilities will make it clear if you have the right people on staff for the project at hand or if it might be beneficial to bring in a consultant that does.
3.    Agree On Standardized Toolsets: In many organizations, the development and operations teams are two completely siloed departments. They don't have the same reporting structure, and traditionally, there has been very little collaboration between the two groups. As a result, there is also very little consistency in tooling and processes ? something which makes it very difficult to build, test and release an application in a fast and efficient manner. Even when pockets of automation do exist, if the organization is using multiple tools across multiple groups, there will be challenges in pulling all of this together to release applications quickly which explains why it's so important to address this from the start.
4.    Create a Roadmap: Once you've tackled the first three milestones on this list, you're ready to create a shared roadmap that everyone on your team subscribes to. This will lay the foundation for the project ? and it should take advantage of all of the automation building blocks that have already been built so that you can prioritize where you spend your time and talent in the development process.

Want to Learn More?

• Hear Coda Global's David Angradi explain the importance of automation in an educational video ? "The Critical Role of Automation in AppDev" ? for business and technology professionals produced by Cognistar as part of its extensive SmartPros WatchIT educational video library. http://ow.ly/Fvur30lQaBR
• Is automation the "secret sauce" in successful applications? Our expert blog post has the answer: http://ow.ly/5OhC30lQcfg.
• Find out how Coda Global's RightStart strategy helps businesses launch their dream applications in just a few weeks: http://ow.ly/cpMi30lQcCf

About Coda Global
Coda Global is a cloud-native consultancy and application developer that helps companies accelerate their journey to the cloud. Using its unique DevOptimizedtm approach, Coda works with customers worldwide during every stage of solution development and cloud transformation. From cloud native custom application development to modernizing existing applications or migrating legacy apps to the cloud, Coda Global turns each client's application dream into its dream application. Coda's ability to work at an accelerated pace allows it to deliver the right technology solutions to meet each customer's current business needs while future-proofing application projects to scale and innovate as the client's business grows, giving customers of all sizes ? from startups and midmarket firms to enterprise-level Fortune 500 organizations ? the RightStart they need to bring their best ideas to market. To learn more, visit Coda Global's website at http://www.coda.global.

SOURCE Coda Global