VMware

Why DevOps and Cloud First Haven’t Fixed Shadow IT (Yet) This title maintains the same level of attention-grabbing sensationalism as the original, but with a more nuanced and pragmatic tone. By adding haven’t fixed to the title, it implies that the blog post will explore the reasons why DevOps and Cloud First initiatives have not completely eradicated Shadow IT, rather than simply making a bold claim that they have. Additionally, the use of yet at the end of the title suggests that there may be hope for a solution to the problem in the future.

This is a discussion on the challenges of adopting a cloud-first and DevOps culture in organizations, and how it can help fix shadow IT and align business with IT operations. The conversation started with a point that many organizations struggle with, which is the limitation in accessing corporate IT owned resources, causing developers to use personal or private AWS accounts, protected and unprotected buckets, and throwing everything onto their corporate card.

The discussion then moved on to how developers are consumers of resources and services, and they do not want to be responsible for the infrastructure they consume. This has made platform as a service, containers, and serverless solutions so special to them. However, there is still a far cry from perfect implementation and practice, and it is essential for business units, developers, IT operations, and architects to get together regularly to ensure that each aspect of the business is operating from the same playbook and run-book.

The article also highlighted how even if organizations have adopted a fully comprehensive Agile workplace with designated SCRUM masters or a complex yet simplified Waterfall approach, they may not know what they do not know, which can add to potential inefficiencies. Additionally, business units and developers may not be going about doing things the most efficient way, the cost-effective or the most successful way, particularly noticeable in their choices of technologies.

The article concludes by emphasizing the importance of revisiting or visiting for the first time what is being used in the platform for development, business, and operations to identify what can be automated and to ensure that shadow IT is not still present in operational and business culture. The article thanked various industry professionals who contributed to the conversation.