DevOps is a marriage between tools and culture. Culture drives the need for new tools; DevOps-focused companies may create tools that “non-DevOps” organizations can benefit from. Alternatively, companies might use Jenkins to build out their continuous integration pipelines or a Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS) for faster application deployment, even though they do not see themselves as a “DevOps” organization.
Incorporating the right tools may result in producing better quality software, but embracing the culture of DevOps is important too. Culture includes a common philosophy of how employees work with each other and with the tools. For enterprises ready to embrace DevOps, it means they need to foster an environment that supports learning, adapting and seeing the bigger picture.
Generally, enterprise IT understands tools and software. Cultural changes are significantly more difficult. The DevOps philosophy runs counter to the silos supported by more traditional organizational structures, so it may be seen as intimidating, making it difficult for companies to know where to start.
But should the cultural hurdle of DevOps get in the way of companies utilizing the tools or workflows that have emerged from this movement? Of course not. It would be a mistake for companies to not take advantage of tools such as ActiveState’s Stackato or build continuous integration pipelines with Jenkins. While it’s important to work towards embracing a DevOps culture, the tools alone can take you a long way in the right direction while you are trying to make the cultural shift happen.

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