Glossary
What is DevOps?
A way of working and a set of tools that bring software development and operations together to release changes quickly, safely and repeatably.
In plain words
DevOps is about closing the gap between the people who write software and the people who run it. Instead of handing code over a wall and hoping, the same team shares responsibility, and as much as possible is automated: building, testing, releasing and watching the system.
What a DevOps company usually provides
- Automatic build, test and release pipelines (see CI/CD)
- Environments defined as code (see Infrastructure as Code)
- Containers and orchestration, often with Docker and Kubernetes
- Monitoring, logging and alerts, so problems are noticed early
- Backups, recovery plans and cost control in the cloud
- Security checks built into the release process
What good looks like
Small changes are released often, with little drama. If a release causes trouble it can be rolled back quickly. The team finds out about problems before customers do, and nobody has to remember a long list of manual steps.
Common mistakes
- Buying tools without changing how the team works
- No monitoring, so outages are discovered from customer complaints
- One person holding all the knowledge
- Automation that nobody tests, including the backup restore
- Over-building for a small product that a simple setup would serve
Questions to ask a company that offers this
- How will we release a change, and how long does it take from approval to live?
- How do you roll back a bad release?
- What will be monitored, and who is alerted at night?
- Have you tested restoring from backup?
- Will we own the scripts and accounts at the end?
A good company will answer these plainly and in writing. Vague or evasive answers are worth noting.
Related terms
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Explanation last read through on 13 October 2026. It is general guidance in plain language, not advice for your particular project. Tell us if something is wrong or unclear.