With DevOps working effectively between software engineering and TechOps, you can also rethink your major incident management response process. DevOps can lead the response because they’re the most knowledgeable about how the software operates on all environments and infrastructure.

When you support thousands of users, every minute counts if there’s an issue. Customer satisfaction improves with excellent system availability and performance, so positioning DevOps to direct the technology response team allows issues to be triaged and resolved faster and more holistically. The same holds true when organizations have to adjust to changing regulations. Understanding limitations—if you can use cloud, what data needs to be de-identified, and more—is better served when DevOps owns and handles all considerations for the broader technology team.

Working in the health care industry offers plenty of opportunities to experience this first hand. One specific challenge my team is currently facing is that a new program regulated by the federal government was announced, but the older version of this program is still in effect, so we’re working on updating multiple software platforms simultaneously. If our customers are participating in the old program and plan to continue with the new program, our systems need to differentiate between the two because the programs operate differently, and more importantly, the timeframes overlap. In this case, the DevOps support team needs to concentrate on moving the software deployments through, even as new regulations are mandated by the government. The details are being defined and released continuously, so our team needs to focus on what is necessary for customers to be successful and compliant.

Understanding the stakes, as well as how these components move independently and require numerous updates, makes defining roles and roadmaps even more critical. Sometimes perfecting the basics is the most strategic thing you can do for your DevOps team, and for the organization as a whole.

My advice for your DevOps function to succeed is to clearly define roles, position your team strategically in order to maximize their strengths, and work from that foundation to streamline the work and build up your capacity.