Improving IT/Business Alignment in DevOps: Business Capability for Adopting BizDevOps

Abstract

As organizations increasingly adopt DevOps practices, they often face limitations in IT/business alignment. BizDevOps emerges as an evolutionary and complementary approach that integrates business perspectives directly into the software development lifecycle, aiming to address these limitations and enhance overall organizational performance. This study investigates how BizDevOps builds upon and extends DevOps practices, focusing on developing a business capability to facilitate their integration and improve alignment without compromising agility. The study develops the BizDevOps Business Capability (BizDevOps-BC) through metaethnographic analysis and design principles application. To validate the applicability of this capability, both a proof of concept and an expert opinion survey were conducted. The PoC was implemented in a DevOps organization to evaluate whether this business capability improves IT-business alignment while maintaining software development agility. The expert survey gathered qualitative insights from industry professionals and academics, evaluating the relevance of BizDevOps-BC in various organizational contexts. The findings suggest that BizDevOps-BC has the potential to enhance alignment between IT and business, offering a structured approach that, if properly implemented, could help organizations evolve their DevOps practices, further improving overall IT/business alignment, without compromising their existing agility.