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Shifting down, not left, and other 2024 DevOps predictions

By Adam Frank Senior Vice President of Product at Armory

DevOps workflows have undergone a quiet transformation this year - an evolution, if you will, but not a revolution. 2023 witnessed the solidification of DevSecOps principles, a return to GitOps and redoubled interest in AI/ML thanks to innovations in the large-language model (LLM) and GenAI spaces.

We can safely say these developments will continue to define industry movements in H1 2024. But what else should DevOps leaders anticipate over the next twelve months?

AI will mature into more realistic use cases in the coming years

Let's not bury the lede: AI will continue influencing DevOps practices next year.

AI has already optimized workflows via intelligent automation and continuous integration and delivery (CI/CD) pipelines. Moreover, it has reduced costs by streamlining workflows and enabling human capital to focus on more stimulating and high-level needs (like actually writing code). In 2024, we anticipate further advances in these avenues.

However, AI's influence may not be as significant as some experts believe. We're still in the hype cycle for innovative applications like GenAI and LLMs. Undoubtedly, these technologies are advancing rapidly - but is the same true about software development lifecycle (SDLC) infrastructure? All enterprises, even market leaders, struggle with antiquated SDLC issues, including clunky CI/CD pipelines and uneven automation. AI and ML cannot fix these problems in a vacuum.

We'll see leaders recognize missed opportunities in the SDLC and take action in 2024. Leaders will tackle flawed development workflows by drilling down on the dysfunction in their SDLC and investing in smart automation. Accordingly, by 2025, many organizations will be better positioned to adopt AI and ML systems.

Intrateam collaboration will reach new heights

Many commentators marvel at the idea of LLM-generated code. Certainly, there are several promising applications for GenAI in software development, but 100% hands-off coding isn't currently one of them. Software engineers just can't trust LLMs to verify code provenance, so software security remains a far too pressing issue. (As discussed in the previous section, these limitations may resolve themselves in the near future - but for now, they're clear and present.)

Yet there are other, perhaps lesser-known opportunities for LLMs and GenAI to improve the SDLC. For instance, LLMs and GenAI can improve how software engineers work and interact. Software development is an incredibly geographically diverse industry, with teammates often working in different time zones and conversing in different languages (both while speaking and coding). GenAI has the potential to transform how these co-workers understand one another.

Unlike more rudimentary forms of translation, GenAI translation can "trans-create" a deeper cultural context and meaning to its translations. This function can improve collaboration by creating deeper bonds between developers and more nuanced understandings of complex concepts. Over the next year, we should expect to see equally potent manifestations of GenAI impacting the human element of software development.

2024 will be the year of shifting down

"Shifting left" has become shorthand for the modern software development philosophy. The mindset suggests that critical concerns like security should be prioritized earlier in the SDLC. This mentality is not going away anytime soon. However, a revitalized era looms, one that prioritizes developer experience (DevEx) and software outcomes simultaneously.

Richard Seroter, Director of Outbound Strategy and Engagement for Google Cloud's Modern Infrastructure team, refers to this transformation as "shifting down." Rather than overburdening developers with upstream processes, Richard believes that software engineering leaders will soon transfer focus to augmenting their team's underlying platforms.

We've already seen the beginnings of this pivot with the expansion of platform engineering. Platform engineers enable layers of abstraction that ease developer friction by adopting tools and practices reinforcing scalability, security, efficiency and sustainability of software delivery.

The benefits of a sound platform ecosystem are various. For one, developers can maximize innovation while minimizing technical debt. Reinforced systemic foundations also foster more adaptable, sturdier infrastructure for accomplishing business objectives.

The concept of shifting down also empowers developers by fortifying the foundations that enable coding, building and deploying. Therefore, the "shifting down" mindset represents a powerful transition - and a win-win-win for leaders, developers and consumers. We can expect this development, and the maturation of AI's more nuanced capabilities, to improve the software development landscape in 2024 and beyond.

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Adam Frank is a product and technology leader with more than 20 years of Development and Operations experience. His imagination and passion for creating development and operations solutions are helping developers and innovations around the world. As Armory's Senior Vice President of Product, he's focused on delivering products and strategies that help businesses to digitally transform, carry out organizational change, attain optimal business agility, and unlock innovation through software.