DevOps in Aerospace
DevOps is for software companies. You’re an aerospace company.
…are you sure you’re not a software company?
Because when I look at aircraft, they have lots of software in them. From avionics to in-flight entertainment, from flight-critical to luxury.
And let’s not get started with all the software that’s driving processes on the ground: during design, manufacture, maintenance and operation.
(And remember, I’ve got a degree in Aeronautical engineering, as well several years' experience in avionics development – I know this first-hand.)
So to all people from the aerospace business who are skeptical about whether the topic applies to them: of course it does! Of course you’re a software company!
Hang on, is this article about you?
Well, DevOps applies to you as well. And why wouldn’t it?
It’s nothing new, after all – just good engineering practice, applied to software-based products.
All that stuff about iterative product creation and fast feedback is par for the course to an engineer. In the context of building software, it might mean something different than in the context of building wings, but the idea itself is exactly the same.
So DevOps will be an important part of aircraft development. It must be, because new features increasingly depend of software: on the ground or in the air, during development or operation.
New features will flow into the product at a much faster rate than before. Have to flow much faster, because competition surely isn’t sleeping.
Of course it won’t be the same DevOps as in Web development. Of course we may have to contend with regulation, assessments and the like.
But nonetheless, you would do well to incorporate these approaches into your workflow, because the world won’t wait for you.