Understanding DevOps Critical Success Factors: A Thematic Analysis

Abstract

The software development industry has widely adopted DevOps culture and practices, which emphasize the importance of effective utilization of DevOps tools, promoting collaboration, developing necessary skills among employees, and fostering a supportive company culture. Understanding the critical success factors for DevOps is essential for ensuring the overall performance of an organization. To gain a deeper understanding of DevOps practices and insights from professionals during the adoption of DevOps within teams, a study was conducted aimed at identifying DevOps critical success factors for teams within software-producing organizations. The study employed a thematic approach through collaborative coding and extensive interviews with 16 DevOps professionals in the IT industry. The findings highlighted the importance of fostering a (1) collaborative organizational culture, (2) Integrating DevOps automation, (3) cultivating strong work ethics, (4) addressing challenges related to remote teamwork, and (5) establishing dedicated DevOps security teams. Our findings thus contribute to improving DevOps concepts of success factors, practices, and organizational impacts.