How do you explain the importance of DevOps to a 5-year-old?
My kid asked me, “Mumma, why do I need to give exams. I go to school and do my homework daily”
Ah! Yet another question. My kid waits for my answers eagerly. And I got my idea to explain to him another trending topic “DevOps”. After our first conversation about API, I thought why should I leave a chance to explain anything to my kid if I can relate any topic to our everyday activities. It will help me to explain something in a very simple way as well my readers can relate and understand it if they are new to the topic.
“Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication.” — Leonardo da Vinci
I told him I am a little busy now. I will tell you today during our storytelling time. Our conversation during story-telling goes as follows :
Me: You remember what I told you on your last exam. If you study and do good in your exams, only then you can become strong and talented like your superhero.
Kid: Yes Mumma, I want to be like spiderman.
Me: I will tell you a story about why exams are important to become a spiderman. We will relate your exam to DevOps here. Like exam in your school, there is DevOps in Mumma’s office.
Kid: And today I will watch a spiderman cartoon, please.
Me: Sure. But listen to the story carefully.
Me: Your class mam teaches you ABCD, numbers, spellings, Rhymes, drawing, etc in school. And your principal Mam manages things in the school so that you can learn and become powerful.
Kid: And I play with my friends.
Me: Let us consider class mam is Team 1(Developers including QA) and principal Mam is Team 2(Operations) as in Mumma’s office.
Me: Everyone in the school has 1 common goal. That is you learn well and you become smart and powerful like spiderman.
Me: Imagine there are no exams in your school. Now you have completed learning ABCD, rhymes, numbers, etc. But we don’t know when you can actually use your learnings and become a spiderman as there were no exams to examine you.
Kid: But I want to become a spiderman soon.
Similar to exams, without DevOps , there won't be any communication between Developers and the Operations team and thus no information when the product/application that is developed can actually be released in the market.
Mom: Now imagine you have become a spider-man. But there was not a single exam you appeared in. And then everyone gets to know that the spider-man is not as powerful and talented as the original one. What will happen then?
Kid: Then the green villain will defeat me.
Me: Yeah then you have to study again ABCD, numbers, and rhymes from the beginning. It will be difficult to find out where the problem occurred. Principal Mam will scold your class Mam for why you have not taught him well. Class Mam will say you learned well in class but she has no idea what happened later. Class Mam will be sad and she won’t give you toffees to eat. I will be also sad thinking both Class mam and Principal Mam have not done good work.
Me: Do you understand now why exams are important?
Kid: Yes, Mumma will be sad and I cannot become a strong spiderman
Me: It will be a waste of time for everyone. Everyone will be sad because you could not become spiderman like the original one.
The product or application developed might have worked well in the test environment. After the product is released in the production environment, let us assume the product could not fulfill the requirements. Developers thought the product was working fine when tested and operations thought why the developers & QA did not code and tested well. Due to a communication gap between developers and the operations team, and a lack of testing in the real environment, the product made was not market-ready. It is a complete waste of time and resources.
Me: If Principal Mam and class Mam organize exams on a periodic basis after teaching you a few topics, then Principal Mam will know that you are being taught properly, there will be sync between principal mam and Class Mam. Both of them will work together for your good. I will also know which subjects and how much you have actually learned. And I will allow you to watch cartoons after every exam when you do good.
Kid: Hmm, exams are good
Me: Similar to the exam, there is DevOps in Mumma’s office which makes work easy between Team 1 and 2.
Me: Slowly and gradually you will become a powerful spiderMan.
Similar to the concept of the exam, DevOps is nothing but a concept, a way or mindset to build a quality product from the development to production stage. It is the way by which developers(including QA) and the operations team sync and do the work smoothly together like the Class Mam & Principal Mam in our example.
Me: Imagine spiderman got hurt while fighting. And you forgot few things while fighting with the villain. Then what will happen?
Kid: I have to study again.
Me: Yes. Class Mam and Principal mam will teach you the subjects which you forgot while getting hurt. You can study, give the exam again, and then you become powerful once again.
If any issue comes in production, with the concept of DevOps, fixes can be tested and merged to production smoothly without any delay.
I don't know how much a kid can actually remember about the exam/DevOps Concept. I hope my readers can relate to the example and understand the importance of DevOps.