Optimizing production processes is important—this priority is best seen in companies like Toyota and Ford that know how to efficiently manage mass production of complex systems. This emphasis on optimization is also true for software development these days: software needs to be delivered as rapidly as possible at extremely high quality. Business requirements are changing and industries are changing; software development now resembles manufacturing as it was decades ago. While software development is like other industries, the IT industry possesses some unique operational requirements that must be met. This section explores the related methodologies in IT, from the most classic to the most innovative ones. 

The principles of DevOps have been around for quite some time now. Its initial applicability was toward applications and bridging the gap between application developers and the operations teams who supported those applications. However, over the past few years, a concept that is called network development and operations (NetDevOps) has emerged that covers the applicability of DevOps principles, processes, and tools for IT networking professionals with the goal of increasing uptime, reliability, and predictability, while also benefiting from automation. This module explores common tools that are used within a NetDevOps pipeline.

Automation development environments allow developers and network automation engineers to work in consistent and reproducible environments. These environments accommodate the software dependencies and versions that vary from one system to another by using isolated environments, containers, and tools that manage multiple virtual machines (VMs).