Low Code And DevOps – A Powerful Combination

Low code development is considered to be the most efficient development method to create a high-quality software product with the fastest development time and the lowest time to market with continuous delivery.

DevOps methodology is one of the best when it comes to prioritizing faster work delivery through increased efficiency and cutting out all the excess processes of all operations teams.

So, what happens when you combine the fastest development procedure and a methodology that considers faster delivery as a core principle? That’s what we’re here to discuss today.

Let’s find out how a mix of low code and DevOps takes speeds up your development process to the next level.

How DevOps Speeds Up Low Code Development To The Next Level

Full-scale development for modern software is highly demanding, and companies have to stay competitive and come up with innovative approaches constantly for better operational efficiency.

To try and solve this increased need, IT departments often have multi-skill development teams with their specialized tools, frameworks, and programming languages.

But these different frameworks result in different siloes that hinder proper collaboration and slow down the development process.

The problem can persist even when the department is using a low-code platform, and DevOps can be part of the solution to the problem.

DevOps teams work together to achieve quality digital solutions. Though the idea of DevOps cannot be implemented overnight and requires constant changes over a long period, the transition can still fix a lot of problems.

To make the transformation more efficient, an organization must keep track of the three core aspects:

• People
• Process
• Technology

1. People

It’s not easy to change the team structure all of a sudden and make two entirely different teams work in tandem for a single project.

For the teams to collaborate better, both teams have to come to alignment starting from the planning phase.

Both these teams also have to understand the roles each other has and contribute to each shared goal equally. It’s the only way to approach the idea of a joint endeavor.

To keep both teams in sync, the team leaders and other members should hold cross-functional meetings.

Both teams can also stay in sync with cross-functional email lists or interdisciplinary charts, allowing the teams to constantly share information.

Ensuring a complete understanding between all the team members about each step and how said step fits into the work objective into the bigger picture enables increased efficiency throughout the development cycle.

2. Process

The key to creating a successful team is where the dev and ops are in complete sync throughout the entire development cycle including production.

This requires the implementation of processes that align with the entire development process.

In a proper DevOps team, both the Dev and the Ops should be empowered to work in sync with a focused goal in mind.

One of the foundational aspects of DevOps is to implement continuous feedback loops for all teams and stakeholders, and it’s vital for all processes.

3. Technology

When trying to supplement the DevOps structure, an organization can often end up with a complex stack of technologies that create a complex ecosystem.

This ecosystem consumes a lot of necessary time and budget for the project.

For maximum efficiency, organizations can bring in low code development platforms to create custom solutions, and also integrate new features into existing structures with the help of custom connectors and APIs.

This way, the infrastructure isn’t muddled with too many different tools and functionalities that overlap.

1. Faster Development Cycle

With a low code platform, your entire development cycle is more simplified and developers can utilize the convenience to build and deploy apps relatively faster.

The idea aligns with the principle of DevOps to accelerate software delivery and reduce overall time to market.

2. Better Collaboration

Low-code platforms come with a visual and collaborative platform. This visual platform allows for improved collaboration through visual data, which even allows non-technical business personnel to collaborate with the developer team.

This collaboration aligns with the DevOps practice of shared ownership and cross-functional teamwork.

3. Reduced Technical Debt

Whenever the requirements are modified, a low-code platform can regenerate applications from scratch, which allows for technical debt reduction.

This way the application remains maintainable, offers better scalability, and allows better performance optimization.

4. Enforced Security

When you integrate Low-code platforms with DevOps, it can enable you to embed security features throughout the software delivery pipeline.

As a result, the product design becomes more reliable and secure by nature rather than relying on constant security measures.

5. Increased Flexibility

A mixture of low-code and DevOps enables any organization to deploy applications across different infrastructures and environments such as

• On-Premises Systems
• Private & Public Clouds
• Hybrid Development

4 Easy Steps To Integrate DevOps In Your Low Code Development Cycle

1. Include Low Code Tools In The CI/CD Pipeline

Start by integrating low code tools in the CI/CD pipeline for seamless and consistent application delivery.

These tools can also automate multiple procedures throughout the development cycle such as building, testing, and other deployment processes.

2. Integrate Necessary Third-Party APIs and Tools

Most low-code and no-code platforms offer third-party tools and API integration capabilities. You can use this ability to integrate your chosen platform with DevOps tools and APIs.

Doing so can help you expand and automate your development pipeline.

3. Automate Testing and Deployments

By leveraging automation throughout the development cycle, it’s easier for low-code platforms to streamline processes like automated testing or deployment orchestration.

It increases overall deployment capabilities across different platforms.

4. Integrate Version Control

Most high-performance low-code platforms offer integration capability with popular version control systems. By doing so, developers can maintain a single source of truth for application code and ensure better collaboration.

It also allows for reverting to the previous version if needed.

Top 3 Deployment Strategies for Low Code And DevOps

1. Blue-Green Deployments

Blue-green deployment is when you’re running two different environments for the same software.

The blue version is the live production version, and the green environment is the new application version.

This approach allows you to switch between environments easily and allows you to perform quick rollbacks in the case of any emergency or errors.

This deployment method allows for seamless integration with the existing DevOps pipeline, ensuring a powerful application delivery.

2. Canary Releases

In the canary release system, the application is released to a smaller subset of the audience before publishing the final release for the entire user audience.

This approach is the best approach for testing since it allows for live testing of software products in a safe environment and with live interactions.

Low code platforms make canary releases more effective by allowing integration of different monitoring tools and user segmentation for accurate measurement of the impact of the new version on overall user experience and overall performance.

3. Rolling Updates

Also known as phased rollouts, this release method allows for releases in different phases. With each phase of release, the new version of the application gradually replaces the older version.

Gradual releases like these also allow for live testing and making changes accordingly.

To Wrap It Up

Low code development is a highly efficient development method on its own. Combining low code with DevOps allows you to achieve the next level of development efficiency and helps you deploy secure and effective applications much faster.

Want to create great apps by combining low code and DevOps? Impala Intech team specializes in different work methodologies along with low code development, and you’ll get to leverage the complete expertise of our professional development team for your next project.

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