DevOps Checklist for Startups

#Alignment

#✓ We prioritize according to business objectives.

• Ensure all DevOps activities align with the company’s goals to drive business value.

#✓ Our team has clear objectives that correspond with our company vision.

• Define and communicate clear goals that align with the startup’s overall vision.

#✓ Our product team focuses on sustainable velocity rather than current speed.

• Emphasize long-term productivity over short-term gains to maintain a sustainable pace.

#Culture

#✓ We volunteer for tasks rather than having them assigned.

• Encourage autonomy and motivation by allowing team members to choose tasks.

#✓ DevOps is not isolated to a specific role or team in our organization.

• Promote cross-functional collaboration to integrate DevOps practices throughout the organization.

#✓ We cultivate an environment of continuous learning.

• Foster a culture that values learning from successes and failures to drive improvement.

#Communication and Sharing

#✓ We have a centralized instant message system including all members of our product team.

• Use tools like Slack, or Linear for efficient communication.

#✓ All members of our product team have access to environment status, metrics, and history.

• Ensure transparency and accessibility to key metrics and system statuses.

#✓ We make potential changes visible to all members of our product team.

• Maintain visibility of upcoming changes to keep everyone informed and prepared.

#Automation

#✓ Our configuration of systems is automated.

• Use Infrastructure as Code (IaC) tools like Terraform to automate system configurations.

#✓ We have automated testing prior to automated production deployment.

• Use simpler, integrated tools like GitHub Actions or GitLab CI/CD to automate tests and ensure quality before deployment.

#✓ Our release and deployment automation is environment agnostic.

• Use tools like Kubernetes to manage deployments across different environments seamlessly. Using tools like GitHub Actions or GitLab CI/CD can also help to manage deployments seamlessly across different environments.

#Measurement

#✓ We focus on time to repair rather than time between issues.

• Prioritize quick recovery and issue resolution to maintain system stability.

#✓ We estimate based on measurement and past experience.

• Use data-driven insights and historical performance to improve estimation accuracy.

#✓ All members of our product team have access to code status, metrics, and history.

• Provide comprehensive access to code and system metrics for informed decision-making.

#Lifecycle

#✓ Our software development cycle is iterative and adapts to project needs.

• Maintain short, flexible development cycles (e.g., 1-2 weeks) that can adapt based on feedback and project requirements.

#✓ Developers or product owners are able to deploy our product to production.

• Empower those closest to the change to deploy and monitor the product, ensuring accountability and faster iterations.

#✓ We manage defects efficiently to minimize impact on development.

• Immediately address defects to prevent larger issues and maintain product quality.

#Organization

#✓ Our teams are cross-functional and empowered.

• Structure teams to include diverse skill sets, enabling them to build, test, and deploy software independently and efficiently.

#✓ Our teams are customer and product oriented.

• Align team efforts with customer needs and product goals for maximum impact.

#✓ We enable peer and cross-functional review for changes.

• Encourage thorough review processes to enhance code quality and collaboration.

#Process

#✓ We follow agile development practices suited to our startup’s needs.

• Implement agile methodologies to support quick iterations, flexibility, and continuous feedback, ensuring the team can adapt rapidly to changes.

#✓ We practice blameless postmortems.

• Conduct postmortems without blame to learn from failures and improve processes.

#✓ Our documentation is version-controlled and shared.

• Use version control systems like Git to maintain and share documentation, ensuring consistency and accessibility.

#How Qovery empowers startups to master DevOps practices?

#Why Qovery?

Qovery offers an all-in-one solution for DevOps automation, specifically tailored for startups and growing companies. By reducing the need for a dedicated DevOps team, Qovery significantly lowers costs and increases efficiency, allowing you to:

• Speed up development: automate infrastructure provisioning and deployments, allowing for faster releases and quicker iterations.
• Optimize costs: automatically scale resources based on demand, ensuring you only pay for what you use, which is crucial for budget-conscious startups.
• Focus on building: Qovery handles DevOps complexities, letting your team concentrate on developing the product and acquiring customers.
• Integrate seamlessly: Connect easily with existing tools like GitHub, GitLab, and Bitbucket, minimizing disruption and making the transition smooth.
• Enhance security and compliance: Benefit from built-in security features and compliance with standards like SOC 2, protecting your data and ensuring regulatory compliance.
• Scale effortlessly: Qovery supports multi-cloud deployments, allowing your startup to scale globally without additional overhead.

#Cost savings and efficiency gains

Using Qovery can save startups up to 60% on DevOps costs compared to hiring a full-time DevOps engineer. By automating key processes, Qovery not only reduces costs but also accelerates time-to-market, which is crucial for startup growth and competitiveness.

#Wrapping up

By following this DevOps checklist, startups can streamline their development processes, enhance collaboration, and accelerate growth. Based on our experience with 200+ startup customers, we’ve tailored these best practices to be practical and achievable for growing teams. Leveraging tools like Qovery can simplify DevOps automation, making it accessible and efficient even without a dedicated DevOps team.
Start your DevOps journey today with these actionable steps and experience the transformative impact on your startup’s success. Start a 14-day free trial - no credit card required!