DataOps and Beyond: How DevOps Methodology Transformed Our Approach to Data Science

The DevOps methodology has become synonymous with forward technical thinking–a workplace culture that reinforces best cultural practice and promotes more, better quality output by synchronizing the functions of development and operations teams. As a testament to its popularity, the term has expanded in reach to refer to a broader set of transformational software-related practices. The list continues to grow: DevTestOps, DevSecOps, GitOps, DataOps. 

In 2020, organizations are drawing upon thousands—if not tens of thousands—of data sources, which exist in hundreds of different formats and fall under unique sets of restrictions and compliance regulations. Figuring out where all this data comes from, what it means and how to ensure that the right teams can access it when they need to, are common data management challenges. To address these challenges, some solutions were borrowed from effective practices in software development; automating analytics for improved quality, and allowing data scientists to shift away from time-consuming tasks to focus on value-adding projects instead. 

What happens when software development and deployment methods are applied to processing and integrating data? Does that mean that DataOps is exactly like DevOps, but for data? And what benefits do organizations expect from adopting this approach to data management?

The xOps Mindset

At their core, the ops practices are linked by fundamental characteristics that shape their goals and practices. Let’s explore some of these commonalities:

• xOps ties together workflows from create to run: In an ideal environment, production and distribution don’t function as separate entities, but are synchronized to meet target metrics that can include hundreds, or thousands, of daily deployments. Culture changes have rewritten rules around internal communication and feedback loops in a development environment where the conditions or requirements for success are constantly changing.
• xOps automates the mundane (non-creative) tasks: Automation not only increases an organization’s agility, but when executed correctly can eliminate communication gaps between teams—for instance, automating traceability and issue tracking within code changes. Within larger, more complex projects, automation can save on time and cost by executing and managing CI/CD—ensuring that software builds and changes reach their designated target environment with little to no human involvement.
• xOps builds in best practice: Equally as important to the functions they perform, xOps tooling plays a key role in building in best practice from the top down and bottom up. Best practice might not look identical between organizations, but the common goal is delivering value for a range of stakeholders through continuous production, in an environment where it’s encouraged to learn through experimentation and to respond to problems as they occur.

In short, DataOps loosely applies the DevOps process to data pipelines—using automation and Agile methodology to reduce the amount of time spent fixing issues in pipelines, and to get data science models into production quicker. There are also some obvious differences between DataOps and DevOps. While DevOps refers to the collaborative process between two technical teams, DataOps facilitates cooperation between data analysts, engineers, scientists and any members of an organization who use data. This makes DataOps a much more multifaceted process than its DevOps cousin. 

xOps for the Big Data Age: Benefits of Running DataOps 

We know that for many organizations, converting raw data into usable, accessible and relevant (that is, profitable) business intelligence has given rise to a plethora of data management issues. The sheer volume of most enterprise level datasets has simply outgrown many of the inadequate older systems and processes built to manage it, and we continue to produce new data at stunning rates. There is a general consensus among data scientists today that the amount of data in the world doubles every 12 months.  

• Automation and Continuity: Within an organization, business data moves through a set process—akin to the software lifecycle for the DevOps analogy—where data is ingested in one form and exits in another. Engineers must build data pipelines, test them and change them before they are deployed. By adopting the standards for automation and best practices outlined above, you’ll ideally have a constant stream of data flowing through a pipeline. This unlocks the potential to obtain real-time insights from data, shortening the length of time it takes to turn raw data into valuable business information.
• Cultural Shift: When completed correctly, DataOps changes who within an organization becomes a data user. A higher level of transparency and an assurance of quality means that data is more openly available to decision makers within non-technical teams. Consider the business value-add for a sales team who wants to expand into new markets and are able to access a wealth of customer data.
• Machine Learning: We talked about the role of feedback loops in the xOps mindset. When machine learning modelling meets this mindset, you improve the quality of the model being produced because you’re unlocking a higher quality of data through version control, continuous integration and continuous deployment. Improved insights in machine learning offer nearly unlimited potential for extracting value from DataOps.