Skip to main content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Official websites use .gov
A .gov website belongs to an official government organization in the United States.

Secure .gov websites use HTTPS
A lock () or https:// means you’ve safely connected to the .gov website. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites.

We’re working on a new version of tech.gsa.gov

We’re adding tools to help GSA deliver a digital-first public experience. You can track our progress in our open-source repository.

What is DevOps?

DevOps is best described as the conventions and practices that create collaborative and communicative partnership between development and operation groups. These practices incorporate two concepts that contribute to the automation of the process of software delivery and infrastructure changes.

Mind the Product: Old Way: Code, build, test, release, and operate, with a handoff between each phase and a defined start and end
Mind the Product: New Way: Code, build, test, release, and operate, as a continuous cycle

Continuous Integration (CI)

Continuous Integration (CI) is the practice of developers ensuring that code is frequently checked in and integration tested with its dependencies with each check-in. Based on the methods and practices developed by Rational (IBM) programmer, Grady Booth, continuous integration has provided the foundation for a number of subsequent frameworks, including Extreme Programming (XP).

According to the Agile Alliance, the goals of CI are “to minimize the duration and effort required by each integration episode and to be able to deliver a product version suitable for release at any moment.” Achievement of these goals is supported through not only automation, but also the use of version control tools (e.g. SVN, GIT, Mercurial, etc.) and team working agreements that promote continuous code integration.

Continuous Delivery (CD)

Continuous Delivery (CD), according to ThoughtWorks, can also help large organizations become lean, agile, and innovative. “Through reliable, low-risk releases, Continuous Delivery makes it possible to continuously adapt software in line with user feedback, shifts in the market and changes to business strategy. Test, support, development and operations work together as one delivery team to automate and streamline the build, test and release process.”

Common DevOps Terms

Mind the Product has created an informative list of useful DevOps terminology. The definitions can be found in our Glossary.

Good Reads

These are good references for understanding DevOps, Continuous Integration (CI), and Continuous Delivery (CD):

tech.gsa.gov / Office of the CTO

An official website of the U.S. General Services Administration

Looking for U.S. government information and services?
Visit USA.gov