From manual testing to a DevOps culture at DELA

Context

Testing was slow, mostly manual, and ran on an outdated tool stack. Twenty teams were dealing with too many production incidents and too little ownership. DELA asked us to set up a team that could enable other teams around DevOps and test automation, and to start a DevOps guild that would embed the mindset and the practices across the organisation.

What we did

• Data analysis showed the existing approach was not working. We reset the strategy.
• Built a self-service toolbox so teams could plug security, performance and other checks straight into their own pipelines.
• Introduced pre-deployment testing so feedback arrives locally and in the pipeline — before a full environment deploy.
• Rebuilt the build servers using Infrastructure as Code, shaped around what teams actually needed.
• Started a DevOps guild combining external speakers with success stories from DELA teams themselves.
• Ran maturity scans per team to surface concrete improvement opportunities.

Outcome

• A large number of teams now work according to the new strategy.
• Pre-deployment checks bring feedback from hours down to seconds.
• Time to production reduced from days to 15 minutes.
• The DevOps guild meets monthly and has become a vital place for knowledge sharing.
• Several teams now respond proactively to incidents instead of reactively.