Global Insurance Organisation engages DevOps1 to advise and design their path to production

Overview

In 2023, a Global Insurance Organisation partnered with DevOps1 to conduct a thorough review of its SDLC process and technical landscape. The central focus was on identifying opportunities to accelerate the path to production while ensuring efficiency, reliability and value.

The detailed assessment resulted in the development of comprehensive yet easily digestible playbook for the organisation. Core themes and insights covered in the assessment included: DORA metrics; an in-depth analysis of deployment frequency; lead time for changes; mean time to recovery; and change failure rate. Additionally, the evaluation incorporated the fundamental "3 Ways" principles, emphasising flow, feedback, and continuous learning.

Challenges

During the assessment, DevOps1 identified that the organisation had challenges in three critical areas: Test Environments; Engineering Culture; and aligning their technical teams to the Scaled Agile Framework (SAFe) within their Value Stream.

Firstly, Test Environments present hurdles related to the availability, consistency, and configuration, impacting the reliability of results and hindering the Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC).

Secondly, instilling a culture embracing DevSecOps proved challenging, requiring a shift towards collaboration, transparency, and continuous improvement.

Lastly, transitioning to SAFe introduces complexities such as restructuring workflows, realigning teams, and managing changes in roles and responsibilities. Additional challenges with the organisation architecture and technology stack (significant dependency on Legacy and Monolithic) meant SAFe structure was not fit for purpose in its original form.

The organisation had a number of initiatives designed to uplift these areas, however the ability to track, monitor and show improvement was hampered by the quality and availability of data linked to DORA and Flow Metrics.

Solutions

The collaborative goal of this engagement was to identify avenues for optimising processes, enhancing the path to production, and fostering a more efficient workflow, DevOps1 provided the customer with a comprehensive review and assessment across all value streams and technology areas followed by a roadmap to implementing a set of initiatives that would streamline their technology delivery.

The assessment and roadmap focused on areas such as governance, technology stack, engineering optimisation, structure, DevSecOps/Security with a view to tangible improvements that would uplift their maturity against DORA and Flow metrics.

The proposed improvements aim to reduce lead times, increase repeatability, and enhance reliability, ultimately elevating the overall quality of outcomes and instilling greater confidence in the development process at the organisation.