Developers are essential for the successful implementation and operation of information technology projects. They range from those dealing with commercial vendors to those working with open source initiatives, cloud-based software-as-a-service (SaaS) solutions, managed service providers (MSPs) and internal teams, all of whom play an important part in the effective running of an organization.
But despite their importance, developers are often not included in the conversation when it comes to the financial management of IT projects – known as CostOps. This is a mistake. Developers have a lot to contribute to the CostOps conversation, and can help to ensure that projects are delivered on time and on budget.
Including developers in the CostOps conversation can help to:
1. Improve cost estimating
Developers can help to improve cost estimating. They know about it. They can help with cost estimates when you are doing a project so that the project costs do not go up too much.
2. Ensure that project costs are understood and controlled
Developers can help to make sure that the costs of a project are understood and controlled. They know about these things, and they can help when you are doing a project so that the costs don’t go too high.
3. Deliver value for money
Developers are important for making sure that technology projects are successful. They work with different kinds of software, and they can help make sure that the project costs don’t go too high. Developers can also help make sure that the project is understood and controlled. This is good because it means that the project will be a success and people will be happy with the results.
4. Help to avoid cost overruns
Developers can help to make sure that projects don’t go over budget. They know about these things, and they can help when you are doing a project so that the costs don’t go too high. Developers can also help make sure that the project is understood and controlled.
4. Improve project planning and delivery
Developers can help to improve project planning and delivery. They know about these things, and they can help when you are doing a project so that the project is successful. Developers can also help make sure that the project is understood and controlled.
When it comes to the financial management of IT projects, developers should be included in the conversation. They have a lot to contribute and can help ensure that projects are delivered on time and on budget.
5. Reduce waste and duplication of effort
Developers can help to reduce waste and duplication of effort. They know about these things, and they can help when you are doing a project so that the project is successful. Developers can also help make sure that the project is understood and controlled.
6. Improve communication and collaboration
Developers can help to improve communication and collaboration. They know about these things, and they can help when you are doing a project so that the project is successful. Developers can also help make sure that the project is understood and controlled.
7. Help to make informed decisions
Developers can help to make informed decisions. They know about these things, and they can help when you are doing a project so that the project is successful. Developers can also help make sure that the project is understood and controlled.
8. Improve the quality of the final product
Developers can help to improve the quality of the final product. They know about these things, and they can help when you are doing a project so that the project is successful. Developers can also help make sure that the project is understood and controlled.
9. Help to ensure customer satisfaction
Developers can help to ensure customer satisfaction. They know about these things, and they can help when you are doing a project so that the project is successful. Developers can also help make sure that the project is understood and controlled.
10. Be an advocate for the customer
Developers can help to be an advocate for the customer. They know about these things, and they can help when you are doing a project so that the project is successful. Developers can also help make sure that the project is understood and controlled.
When it comes to CostOps, developers have a lot to contribute. They can help to ensure that projects are successful and that customer satisfaction is high. By being involved in the conversation, they can help to make sure that projects are delivered on time and on budget.
When it comes to cost estimation, developers are often in a unique position. They understand the technology and how it works, which can help to give more accurate estimates. They also have a good understanding of how long things take to develop, which can help to avoid underestimating costs.
Another challenge that developers and operations teams face is the long time gap between development and follow-on operations. What a developer creates today for an organization may continue to be utilized decades later, and it will almost certainly be maintained, updated, and modified by other coders. Though it’s a source of pride for the developer – who will most likely have long moved on to other projects – it also means a lot more responsibility. Developers have an impact on an organization’s future and should be sure they’re always considering long-term sustainability when they’re coding.
With more apps than ever before, the developer’s standard function is shifting. Developers must now include operations cost containment into their tasks.
Developer’s Opportunity
Developers are seldom held accountable for long-term corporate decisions. Once their code leaves their control, they typically have little to no management of it. Later, the company’s IT costs and confinement decisions will be made based on its code, language, and toolchain epochs. Developers are concerned with the present and near future. Years later, spending hours analyzing and solving company IT overages are not part of their job descriptions. It’s easy to understand why they would want to distance themselves from future confinements that their code may cause. The problem is that those decisions are being made without their expertise or consent.
In the past, it was operations staff that controlled application uptime, availability, and cost. Developers wrote code, handed it off, and moved on to the next project. Operations staff members were the gatekeepers who decided what code made it into production and what didn’t. They also monitored application performance and availability after code was deployed. If an issue arose, they would alert the development team so that a fix could be implemented.
This process is no longer feasible with the current state of application development. The rate of change and the number of deployments have increased so dramatically that it’s impossible for operations staff to keep up. Developers must now take responsibility for the long-term sustainability of their code. They need to think about how their code will perform not only today but also years down the line.
The first step is to include operations staff in the development process from the very beginning. Developers need to understand the confinements that their code will need to operate under. They also need to be aware of any company-wide policies or directives that will impact the application’s design. Only by collaborating with operations staff can developers hope to create code that is both effective and sustainable.
The next step is to use the right tools for the job. Developers need to select languages, frameworks, and libraries that will make it easy to operate their code at scale. They should also consider using containers or serverless technologies to limit the application’s footprint and reduce its operating costs.
Finally, developers must be willing to take on more responsibility for the code they write. They should monitor application performance and availability after deployment. They should also be prepared to address any issues that arise. Taking on this level of responsibility will help to ensure that the code they write is sustainable and doesn’t cause undue confinements for the organization.
Operations staff members are essential to the development process, but they can’t do it all on their own. Developers need to step up and take responsibility for the long-term sustainability of their code. By collaborating with operations staff, using the right tools, and taking on more responsibility, developers can help to ensure that their code is effective and sustainable.
However, developers have an often-overlooked opportunity to include the gears to activate cost containment support during initial development. From there, if their work is good, it’ll endure; extended support will eventually be necessary. The first step is to ensure new and modernized applications include solid cloud-native monitoring from the outset. This not only helps DevOps and SRE teams but benefits the entire business, who’ll own those applications for the long term.
Developers place a high value on integrating operations-focused monitoring into their applications. There may be no shortage of data for developers and operators in some apps that use platform-managed serverless or orchestrated containerization.
A New Paradigm
Cost reduction is a major benefit of cloud-native as it becomes more common in the enterprise. To address the future concerns of application management, leadership is broadening the definition of application suitability and quality to include all elements of app ownership. Cost containment is now a dimension of senior developer maturity for some teams.
