How to Apply DevOps Principles to Agile Software Localization – #LangOps

What are DevOps Principles?

DevOps is a set of practices that aims to unify software development and software operations. It promotes collaboration, automation, feedback, and continuous improvement throughout the software lifecycle. DevOps principles can help software teams deliver faster, better, and more reliable products. Here are five fundamental DevOps principles and what they mean:

• Customer-centric action: DevOps teams focus on delivering value to the end user and align their goals with the customer’s needs and expectations.
• End-to-end responsibility: DevOps teams own the entire software process, from planning to deployment to maintenance. They are accountable for the quality, security, and performance of their products.
• Continuous integration and continuous delivery (CI/CD): DevOps teams integrate their code frequently and deliver it to the production environment in small and frequent increments. They use automated tools to test, build, and deploy their code, ensuring faster feedback and fewer errors.
• Automated testing: DevOps teams use automated testing tools to verify the functionality, reliability, and security of their code. They run tests at every stage of the software process, from unit testing to integration testing to acceptance testing.
• Collaboration and communication: DevOps teams work together across functions and roles, sharing knowledge, feedback, and best practices. They use communication tools and platforms to coordinate their activities and resolve issues.

How to Adopt DevOps Principles for Agile Software Localization and calling it LangOps?

Software localization is the process of adapting software products to different languages, cultures, and markets. It involves translating the user interface, documentation, and other content, as well as adjusting the functionality, design, and layout to suit the target audience. Software localization can be challenging, especially in agile environments, where software products are constantly evolving and changing. However, by applying DevOps principles to software localization, software teams can achieve faster, better, and more consistent results. Here are some ways to adopt DevOps principles for agile software localization:

• Customer-centric action: Software teams should involve the local users and stakeholders in the localization process, gathering their feedback and requirements. They should also monitor the usage and satisfaction of the localized products, and use data and analytics to measure and improve their performance.
• End-to-end responsibility: Software teams should integrate localization into the software development process, rather than treating it as a separate or final stage. They should also assign dedicated localization experts or teams, who are responsible for the quality, security, and compliance of the localized products.
• Continuous integration and continuous delivery (CI/CD): Software teams should use localization platforms and tools that enable them to automate and streamline the localization workflow. They should also adopt a continuous localization approach, where they localize their code and content as they develop it, rather than in batches or at the end of the development cycle.
• Automated testing: Software teams should use automated testing tools to verify the functionality, reliability, and security of the localized products. They should also use linguistic and cultural testing tools and teams to ensure the accuracy, appropriateness, and consistency of the translations and adaptations.
• Collaboration and communication: Software teams should collaborate and communicate with the localization experts or teams, sharing knowledge, feedback, and best practices. They should also use communication tools and platforms to coordinate their localization activities and resolve issues.

Conclusion

DevOps principles can help software teams deliver faster, better, and more reliable products. By applying DevOps principles to agile software localization, software teams can also achieve faster, better, and more consistent localization results. DevOps principles can help software teams align their localization goals with the customer’s needs and expectations, own the entire localization process, automate and streamline the localization workflow, verify the quality and security of the localized products, and collaborate and communicate with the localization experts or teams.

One possible way to apply DevOps principles to localization is to adopt the concept of LangOps, which refers to the integration of localization into the software development and delivery cycle. By applying LangOps, software teams can ensure that their localization processes are agile, efficient, and scalable. DevOps and LangOps, perfectly orchestrated, generate a very efficient process to deliver multilingual products to your customers.