DevOps Toolchain with Atlassian – Part 1: Jira

DevOps

To explain DevOps in full would require more than just this blog post, as it covers many different areas and technologies. Below, I will give you a brief introduction and outline a practical method for applying the DevOps approach. DevOps is not a clearly defined methodology. It encompasses culture, processes and technology within an organisation and aims to establish a ‘balance between teams’ throughout the software development lifecycle. The aim is to break down theimaginary wall between the Dev and Ops teams in order to promote effective and close communication and collaboration between them, as well as with other teams.

Wall of Confusion between Dev and Ops

DevOps Workflow

The aim is to deploy as many small and stable software changes as possible to the production system. To achieve this, a workflow should be created which, for example, helps to integrate, test and deploy new programme code to the production environment with as little human intervention as possible. As can be seen, automation plays an important role in DevOps.

This workflow consists of a combination of various steps and the associated tools that can be used. At every stage of the workflow, those involved in the software development process have a wide range of different tools at their disposal. The integration of these tools is very important, as the transition between them must be as smooth and efficient as possible. 

It is important to understand that there is no single ‘all-in-one’ tool capable of handling all the tasks in this workflow or the DevOps loop. Instead, it is a mix of different tools that work together. The combination of all these tools is referred to as the DevOps toolchain or DevOps pipeline.

Jira as a starting point

In software development, requirements are usually passed on to the software development team in the form of tickets. The tickets contain all the relevant information about the task to be completed in one place. This includes details such as the name, ticket number, task description, acceptance criteria and descriptive attachments. In addition, Jira features a comments section for coordinating with colleagues or even a client.

Work in Progress (WIP)

These tickets help to visualise the work in progress (WIP) and provide developers, project managers and colleagues with an overview of the tasks to be completed and their current status. On the one hand, this promotes collaboration, as the person working on the task is not constantly asked about its current status; on the other hand, it enhances the transparency of the software development process. This also prevents several colleagues from working on the same task at the same time, thereby avoiding a waste of working time. Furthermore, the comments section on tickets provides a good opportunity to receive feedback from other colleagues on the work in progress.

Summary

This article has given you an initial insight into a DevOps workflow, as well as highlighting some tools and methods. When selecting a DevOps toolchain, particular attention should be paid to a set of highly integrated applications that optimally meet your specific needs. The possibilities for collaboration, transparency, visualisation and automation outlined here provide significant support for these new ways of working.

In the next blog post, I will discuss source code management, Atlassian Bitbucket and integration with Jira. I will not only explain how Jira and Bitbucket work together, but also introduce some of Bitbucket’s features.

Get started with your Atlassian DevOps toolchain using Communardo

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