Automation

Using machines to perform repetitive tasks.

Also Known As

Automated Testing (in Extreme Programming)
Automation (in Lean Software Development)
Continuous Delivery (CD)
Continuous Integration (CI)
Formalisation
Mechanisation
Process Automation
Pull Systems (in Lean Software Development)

Addresses / Mitigates

Operational Risk: Introduces more consistency in process operations and removes opportunity for human error
Schedule Risk: Automating laborious tasks clears the schedule for higher-value work.

Attendant Risks

Operational Risk: Automated processes may be less observable than manual ones.
Complexity Risk: Introducing automation adds to the complexity of a project
Feature Fit Risk: The automated process might not capture the variability of requirements of the original approach
Communication Risk: The quality and performance characteristics may be obscured by automation.
Process Risk: Automation introduces a process, which therefore means a new source of Process Risk.
Agency Risk: Automated processes have their own agency and might not work as desired.
Security Risk: Automation can introduce security issues if automated processes are given elevated privileges.
Internal Model Risk: Automation of reporting and statuses can lead to false confidence about a system's health.

Used By

Extreme Programming: XP emphasizes the use of automated tests to ensure the software works as expected.
Lean Software Development: Lean uses automation to eliminate waste and improve efficiency, especially in testing and deployment processes.
Scrum: Automation of tests and integration (CI/CD) is common in Scrum practices.

Description

"Automation describes a wide range of technologies that reduce human intervention in processes, mainly by predetermining decision criteria, subprocess relationships, and related actions, as well as embodying those predeterminations in machines.": - Automation, Wikipedia

One of the key ways to measure whether your team is doing useful work is to look at whether, in fact, it can be automated. And this is the spirit of DevOps - the idea that people in general are poor at repeatable tasks, and anything people do repeatedly should be automated.