ITIL® Vs. DevOps! 25 Influential Experts Share Their Insights (Is ITIL® Agile Enough?)

Over the years, and particularly lately, there have been complaints that ITIL® is on its way out the door and that it is soon becoming obsolete. But how accurate are these assertions, and how recent are they?

Technology is fast transforming our society in new ways, and individuals who work in information technology and other technology-related industries must stay up with the rapid growth of the sector. Those organizations that make significant investments in ITIL® run the risk of becoming dinosaurs and losing the often-essential adaptability that is necessary to stay up with the times today.

So, I reached out to 25 experts in the fields of IT Service Management, DevOps, Agile, and ITIL® to find out what they had to say on the issue and what they believed the future of ITIL® and IT Service Management will be like in the future.

The question I posed was: Do you feel ITIL CDS Certification® and DevOps are compatible with one another?

I had several excellent replies, which I will go over in further detail later in this piece.

But first, let’s talk about whether new methods to operating IT services are rendering ITIL®, or some portions of it, outdated, and if there is any room for improvement in your IT Service Management procedures by incorporating new practices and ways of working.

DevOps is the “new kid on the block” in the IT world.

So, as you’re presumably aware, there’s a new kid on the block in the realm of information technology. DevOps is the name of the youngster in question. As a small guy who is often misunderstood, DevOps is sometimes mistaken with something it is not.

As you can see, DevOps is not a ‘thing’ in the traditional sense. It’s not something that you can literally hold in your hands or feel with your fingers. In addition, it is not a collection of tools or processes that you may use (although many good tools and approaches have evolved as a result of the movement), nor is it a specific job title or position by sprintzeal.

DevOps is both a cultural movement and a way of thinking. Their mission is to assist in bringing teams together, generally development and operations, as well as to dismantle the obstacles that are created by rigorous compartmentalization and a silo mindset. This sort of cultural shift is assisting in the transformation of the manner in which we collaborate, which has enormous implications for business.

I’ll go into more detail about what DevOps is and isn’t, as well as the benefits of using it, in another piece, but for now, let’s just say:

Now, I have to be really honest and state that DevOps isn’t a new concept. Although the notion has been around since at least 2008, it has only been in the last several years that the trend has begun to acquire momentum and become more popular, especially in the business information technology field.

It is precisely these changes in thinking that have started to raise the issue of whether ITIL® is just too inflexible a framework for current IT operations, as previously stated. Possibly nearing the end of its useful life, to put it another way.

ITIL® vs. DevOps: Which is Better?

A significant amount of planning and documentation is required for the many processes specified across the ITIL® framework, with little or no mention of iterative or agile/lean thinking or methodologies.

Having said that, the new Axelos ITIL® Practitioner offering does include a few more references to DevOps and Agile techniques than the previous version.

Some believe that the contrasts in the approaches taken by ITIL® and DevOps to the management of IT services are at conflict with one another, and although ITIL® has made significant contributions to the world of IT, it is time to move on and work quicker and smarter.

Others, on the other hand, think that ITIL® may be used in conjunction with a DevOps strategy, with the key processes aiding in the improvement and reinforcement of such things as continuous delivery, deployment, and automated testing. The same can be true for ITIL®, which has been shown to assist enhance the way DevOps practitioners operate.

We’ll go into the specifics of this later in the piece, but as you’ll see, a large number of our experts agree with this viewpoint.