ABSTRACT: The present review aims to identify the benefits, challenges, and guidelines associated with DevOps adoption. We argued that guidelines across multiple platforms are needed to succeed in DevOps implementation. Due to a lack of guidelines and precise methods, the benefits are not clear and not known in the research community. In this paper, a systematic literature review is carried out while adhering to its guidelines. The search spanned over ten (10) digital libraries most commonly used in similar studies: ACM Digital Library, ScienceDirect, EBSCOhost, SAGE Journals, Wiley Online Library, ProQuest, Ebsco Discovery Service, Google Scholar, Scopus, and Springer Link. The review also included a keyword to search the relevant study “DevOps guidelines, DevOps and guidelines, DevOps benefits, DevOps and benefits, DevOps challenges, DevOps and challenges”. Papers written in English and published from 2011 through July 2020 were considered. Thirty-three studies passed the two-step quality assessment. Finally, the data were extracted and analysed using an excel data sheet based on the themes and research questions, revealing the benefits and challenges of DevOps adoption guidelines. This review shows that improved software delivery speed increases code quality and application quality with frequent releases. It also shows that there was no transparent scientific approach to determining the DevOps capabilities regarding the process, practice, tools, and implementations, cost implications, and insufficient knowledge of the automation process. Finally, the reviewed studies indicated that the software quality increases whenever DevOps best practices are adopted. DevOps is about continuous software delivery. Previous studies have not considered the guidelines for scientifically adopting DevOps for organisations that want to migrate. The present review identified the DevOps adoption guideline model represented in a cyclic format that indicates an infinite process representing continuous integration, continuous delivery, and continuous deployment, with an understanding of benefits and challenges.
Keywords: DevOps guidelines, challenges, benefits, automation, systematic literature review (SLR)