The benefits of taking your time with DevOps implementation

Your team or organisation might have heard about the great benefits of Salesforce DevOps, and you might even be ready to adopt it for yourselves. There's a common misconception that simply having a DevOps process in place quickly means you’ll start reaping the rewards — but here at DevOps Launchpad, we know that any high calibre DevOps process takes the form of a marathon, not a sprint.

The Accelerate: State of DevOps report from Google Cloud's DevOps Research and Assessment (DORA) backs this: only 9% of elite teams adopted DevOps with a ‘big bang’ approach, rather than an iterative and cautious one. Keep reading to find out why you should start small and scale up with Salesforce DevOps implementation — so you aren’t breaking all of your team’s hard work down the line.

Build a solid DevOps foundation

Salesforce is a constantly changing beast, and adding a whole new release process into the mix without care and consideration could run the risk of disrupting business as usual. But with the promise of a significant Salesforce ROI, you’d be forgiven for wanting to go full steam ahead with implementing DevOps into your Salesforce team.

However, by taking it slowly and assessing where your team is at first, you're less likely to have to backtrack later. By making your process more efficient, you will save time and money in the long run, even if there is a greater upfront ‘cost’. Start by assessing your team’s successes and its challenges across two key areas: processes and resources. By devising a DevOps strategy and assessing your current process, you'll gain deeper insight into the areas you're already excelling at, and understand what you need to do to develop further.

There is no one-size-fits-all approach to adopting DevOps — every Salesforce team is unique, with their own challenges and successes. This means that attempting to cut corners or find shortcuts won’t work: taking slow and steady iterative steps towards DevOps maturity will lead to greater success.

Make sure everyone is on board before rollout

DevOps is about more than tools — it’s about people and processes too. In the State of Salesforce DevOps Report 2022, 93% of Salesforce DevOps teams cited collaboration as one of the most valuable benefits of implementing DevOps. With collaboration at the core of DevOps culture, and culture being a huge driver for the success of DevOps adoption, taking the time to ensure teams are cooperating well and have good job satisfaction will prove essential. Overlooking the people involved and only focusing on the Salesforce DevOps tools will lead to challenges and roadblocks later down the line.

Certifications have long been popular in the Salesforce ecosystem, and Salesforce DevOps is no different. Allowing your team to upskill, using free training resources like DevOps Launchpad, will foster collaboration and ultimately boost team spirit. This is essential when adopting a brand new approach to working, which can require patience and dedication. Charging ahead with a drastic change without considering the impact it might have on the team’s working structure could lead to confusion, fallout, and an unsuccessful implementation. Expanding your team’s skill set will, of course, lead to building the essential knowledge that can be put towards implementing a DevOps process with ease, too.

Measure what matters

Once you’ve got your team on board and in good standing with DevOps adoption underway, be sure to review your process regularly to assess progress and identify where you can make improvements. Wrongly assuming that reflection is only needed at the start (or not at all!), could hinder your team’s continuous improvement capabilities.

It's a good idea to think ahead and take the time to agree on key KPIs that will help your team set development goals. This will be something that key stakeholders will be interested in knowing, particularly the DevOps ROI. Continuously improving, rather than focusing solely on adoption speed, keeps release quality high by reducing errors and improving visibility.

Get your team up to speed — but don’t rush your DevOps adoption

If you’re keen to upskill, DevOps Launchpad has you covered. A great place to start is the free Salesforce DevOps Fundamentals Certificate, which will provide you and your team with a solid foundation of DevOps knowledge to set you on the path to DevOps success. Sign up for your account today to start or continue your slow and steady Salesforce DevOps learning journey!