I was asked to get some feedback on the following definition:
Dear Mr. Debois,
I would like to ask you for some feedback on the following definition drafts for the terms release engineering and DevOps.
Here, at RWTH Aachen University in Germany, we try to find definitions for those terms as part of a seminar in software engineering. Moreover, in my work, I try to point out the differences between release engineering and DevOps, because, as you might know, they are often confused or used as synonyms.
This is our first draft for the definitions:
-
Release Engineering is a software engineering discipline concerned with the development, implementation, and improvement of processes to deliver software reliably and predictable.
-
DevOps is a mindset encouraging cross-disciplinary collaboration between teams, especially development and operations, of a software development organization.
We are grateful for any feedback you can provide. Additionally, we would appreciate it, if you could forward this email to other experts in these field who might also give us constructive feedback.
DevOps goes much further than that and is more like a collection of loosely coupled ideas at a larger scale.
Essentially, it's the effort of moving away from any walls to toss stuff over and making it an issue that you can affect and change in a positive direction.
Release Engineering is just as you have described it - a discipline. One that should be supported by all of the members in the team as opposed to a role that had been traditionally defined.
Or at least this is the best way that I can currently describe it.