How a DevSecOps plan led to
a business breakthrough

The software-driven organization was ready to take a step in a new direction.
  • checklist-icon Adopt a DevOps culture
  • checklist-icon Break down silos
  • checklist-icon Bring in new tooling to accelerate their development teams

Project Overview

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The software-driven organization purchased GitLab, but they soon found that their team was not set up to implement the technology and the processes that the business needed to succeed.

GitLab referred the software-driven organization’s Senior Software Development Manager to NextLink Labs to help the business get on track.

  • But, the value stream wasn’t going to work
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The software-driven organization realized that their structure was a roadblock:

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Their teams were heavily siloed.

Output was slowing. Releases were becoming
laborious. They wanted the disparate teams
to all have a seat at the same table. But they
didn’t know how to implement the culture.

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Their development team had turnover.

Because of the team’s structure and technology, they were having trouble attracting top engineering talent with modern DevOps tooling skillsets.

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The business was relying on legacy tech.

Their teams didn’t know how to work in the cloud or how to most effectively do DevOps with their
current stack.

Old Tech Stack
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siem
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gerrit

Their team members were hoping to bring the business into a modern, agile state.

They just needed help drawing up a strategy and implementation plan to help them move forward with confidence.

NextLinkLabs
The Proposal

We created a custom DevSecOps strategy and implementation plan to...

1. Assess the current state of their DevSecOps program
2. Identify the applications they have
3. Measure against their desired baselines

Then, NextLink Labs provided the software driven organization a plan of where to be in the next 3-18 months and we helped their business every step of the way.

How the software driven organization transformed their business

Phase 1

Understand the business program’s current state—how did they currently handle DevOps and where do they want to go?

Knowing this, they could set short-term and long-term goals unique to the business’s capabilities.

 

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Phase 2

Teach what DevOps is and how it might work across the software driven organization’s business

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It’s not just automation. It’s not just tooling. It’s SDLC. It’s developer experience. It’s observability. It’s knowledge transfer, documentation... that’s all part of DevOps. You have to all be aligned, spread information, and work smart. — NextLink Labs

In total, the software driven
organization spent 30-40 hours with
NextLink Labs. Every meeting had a
topic, and whoever wanted to be
involved—from developers, QA,
security, infrastructure, to project
managers, or anyone involved in the
SDLC—could join the discussion.

Phase 3

Deliver a 60-100 page document outlining all the major DevOps focus areas, topical areas,
baselines, best practices, gaps, and a 24-month roadmap.

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The software driven organization can take that roadmap and use it internally to staff up or reallocate people. They can bring us in to help, or even find another firm. But the important thing is they have something actionable. —NextLink Labs

The software driven organization can be certain that they have the best path forward.

The business breakthrough

After face-to-face time with NextLink Labs, the software driven organization has a better understanding of their problems and how they can overcome them at a granular level.

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What was previously unspoken or abstract is now clear. And their teams can move forward with confidence in what they’re doing. —NextLink Labs

The software driven organization can now jumpstart their DevOps program.
And experience the rewards: effective development, stronger processes, and more reliable software.

business-breakthrough

But the business experienced a breakthrough—
As NextLink Labs moderated meetings, they’ve been able to have conversations as a larger group, breaking down departments and siloes.

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I realized so much of the value was in breaking down silos and getting these people talking, otherwise they would not have had time to talk or had been scheduled to talk. And so we started getting into some of their issues and realizing that when everybody's in the room, you can actually solve some of these things and understand that, ‘Oh, no one likes how this currently works.’ We can change this. —NextLink Labs

And now that the software driven organization’s assessment is completed, NextLink Labs can lead them through implementation:

technologies

The staff will be trained on GitLab, and some technologies will be migrated.

custom-software-development

NextLink Labs will provide engineering support and identify what tools they may want to use outside of GitLab.

strategies

NextLink Labs will develop standards and strategies and help the business roll those out to their products and teams.

New Tech Stack
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elastic
azure
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gitLab
devSecOps

How to transform your business with DevSecOps

Transitioning to a DevSecOps team is no small task, but you can work with a team specifically designed to help you make that transformation seamlessly.

See how you can make the change to DevSecOps.


Learn More

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devSecOps