How DevOps improves connected car service development and deployment

The WirelessCar DevOps journey started in 2016, with the merging of the Development and Operations departments. Since then, our teams have continued to adopt the DevOps mindset and practices, and improved their agile way of working. So, how do these teams facilitate the work we do for our customers? How can DevOps improve connected car service development and deployment for OEMs?

How DevOps can help bridge common information gaps

When development and operations exist as separate departments, they are often divided by a “wall of confusion”. In essence, this means that important information will remain within a certain team or department but not be shared with adjacent parts of the organization, even though they would benefit from receiving and working with it as well.

Traditionally, the development department develops the product or service, before handing it over to operations for deployment and support. However, some of the knowledge gained from the development process will likely not be passed on to the operations team. Similarly, important insights from the operations department – including customer feedback and software performance results – will often not be sent back to the development team. It can also lead to a culture of blame between the departments.

A wall of confusion may sound rather innocuous, but can effectively prevent connected car services from working – and improving – as they should. What a DevOps team can do is to bridge the information gaps that tend to exist between departments. Key information can be picked up sooner, analyzed more thoroughly, and put to better use. It also leads to a better organizational and team culture, and better quality. Ultimately, it helps make connected car services better, and operations run smoother for all the stakeholders involved.

For example, feedback from the OEM (and its customers) can be used to improve existing services more quickly. The DevOps teams can use this feedback – and the insights it provides – when developing, deploying, maintaining, and supporting new connected car services.

aerial top view of cars driving on the road

Three important DevOps insights that OEMs and connected car service developers need to consider

Since adopting DevOps, WirelessCar has learned a lot about the benefits and challenges that come from building and developing DevOps teams. The following insights are among the most important to consider:

Great team autonomy is necessary, along with strong organizational support.
Having an organization that supports collaboration, trust, and psychological safety is a key component of DevOps adoption and improvement.
DevOps adoption and team development is a process that inevitably takes some time, but that makes it a rewarding journey for both the company and its customers.

So, how do these insights translate into highly capable DevOps teams, and successful connected car service development and deployment?

It all starts with team autonomy. Instead of working according to a fixed, predetermined model, DevOps teams should be allowed to largely pursue their own paths; through autonomy, yet with attentive organizational support and guardrails where necessary. If DevOps teams find different ways of reaching their potential, there will be a variety of useful experiences to look at along the way.

At the end of the day, it is about finding the best ways of working together – within the team itself and alongside other teams.

DevOps team development should be a continuous process

DevOps teams have to keep learning, keep developing, continuously. The best ways of doing that are to foster a culture of information sharing within the teams, and to ensure that they keep learning from all the work they do.

When knowledge and responsibilities are shared within the DevOps teams, they become less reliant on specific roles and individuals. Operations become less vulnerable, and the DevOps teams will be better prepared for the incidents and other challenges they will inevitably face in their work with different connected car services. The more prepared and capable they are, the better they will be at quickly resolving, even predicting, these issues.

Working with DevOps requires commitment from every team member. That means taking responsibility for and true ownership of their services. At WirelessCar, we are determined to ensure that our teams keep developing perpetually – through PI Planning and other methods. We are proud of where we have gotten, and we want our customers and partners to be at the forefront of the industry’s technological development as well.

a group of people sitting in the office and talking

Pursuing better connected car services, through DevOps and close customer collaboration

Setting up DevOps teams, making them work, and ensuring their development and improvement over time, is a process. That goes for us at WirelessCar, for OEMs, and for their customers and partners in turn. It is a journey, and we are all on it; learning from our own experiences and from one another.

WirelessCar’s agile way of working includes collaborating closely with our customers in the automotive industry. One of the greatest benefits of this is that we get an in-depth understanding of our customers’ challenges. That allows us to develop connected car services that help them meet those challenges, even as these change in scope and complexity over time.

The higher the level of collaboration, the more mutually beneficial it becomes. That goes for the entire connected car service development process, where our DevOps teams help provide ever greater security, quality, and stability. The technological journey continues, but we are glad to be able to provide both the expertise and the openness that our customers should expect. Our DevOps teams contribute to shorter feedback loops, and a smooth and secure development process: from the concept idea stage to deployment, and throughout the many years of service support.

If you want to know more about our work with DevOps, you are welcome to contact me via the email address below. You will also find other, related articles on team development, PI Planning, and a whole lot more, here on our WirelessCar Insights Blog.