Today’s interview has David Vergano from the State Department along with Justin Leader from HyperVelocity Consulting. David has decades of experience with complex federal projects and Justin has seen many systems implement DevSecOps in the commercial and federal world.
Every federal agency is trying to adapt the principles of agile software development to their projects. Part and parcel of the agile concept are developers working with the teams who test and deploy the code. One of the responsibilities of the Operations team is sending the code to the staging or production environment. Frequently, this combination is called Dev (Development) Ops (Operations), yielding “DevOps.”
Security is always a part of software development in the federal government. When security (Sec) is combined with DevOps it is called “DevSecOps.” Today, we learn the best practices for using DevSecOps to reduce cost, speed up delivery, and increase the security posture of a federal agency.
One key “takeaway” from the interview is the role of tools and coaching in the DevSecOps process.
In one implementation of the agile method, there is a team leader called the ScrumMaster. The role of this person is to encourage, motivate, and guide a team of developers. This multi-dimensional skill set can be optimized by using tools like Atlassian that can give structure to this amorphous concept.
Justin Leader reflects on DevSecOps projects that have failed. Justin refers to the fact that every software development team is going to have a variety of skill levels. Predictably, there may be a person or two on the team who are challenged in a rapidly changing environment like a weekly session to discuss code.
During the interview, Justin Leader notes that one key to success is to have money budgeted for coaching the transition. This person could benefit from personalized one-on-one coaching. This assistance can make the difference between a project that hits all the goals and one that can falter.
One overarching benefit of applying DevSecOps to large federal projects is using metrics to demonstrate “wins” in adopting this new method of software development. One of the benefits of using a tool like Atlassian is the ease with which it can generate reports to reflect progress and keep team members apprised of activities.
To view this webinar: DevSecOps Sharpens the Tip of the Spear.
Featured Speakers:
David Vergano
Systems Development Div. Chief,
U.S Department of State
Justin Leader
Chief Executive Officer,
HyperVelocity
John Breeden (moderator)
Contributing Editor,
FedInsider
