This is an excellent question to which our very own Kai Brunner, Principal Designer here at CloudBees, has explored in his recent article on Wired.com .
The DevOps movement tells the story of not only how development and operation teams learn to collaborate better to release software updates more efficiently, but also the realities of strenuous troubleshooting through all-nighters and sacrificed weekends that has taken their toll on individuals who knew deep down there had to be a better way.
Quite literally, it is a classic tale of neighboring tribes that blamed each other for their hardships until finally realizing they in fact shared common objectives, just from different perspectives. As human nature goes, change is either motivated by inspiration , or by pain . Alas more often than not, we change because our pains are too great to endure any longer. The DevOps movement is a combination of both.
So why would a UX/UI designer be so interested in the DevOps movement?
It’s because the rapidly evolving landscape of software delivery is influencing the current user experience design practices. Moreover, when designers want to deliver a superior design outcome towards successful user adoption, how departments work together critically matters. In striving to achieve the goal of adoption, Kai's past experience has repeatedly taken him down a path to better understand which influences either constrain or facilitate leading design towards this business outcome.
Market imperatives are compelling us to increase the velocity of designing the user experience for complex software - all in step with Agile and Continuous Delivery practices. Designers have to not only adapt, but evolve proactively to continue leading with creative decisions and transform the “power struggle” into the “power of collaboration ,” the same way development and operation teams are achieving this in the DevOps culture.
Read more in Kai's article, featured on Wired .