Quiz Entry - updated: 2026.10.15
How do the traditional Dev and Ops roles differ?
Dev builds custom applications, is treated as a profit centre and works fast with deep, narrow skills. Ops runs the applications and infrastructure, is treated as a cost centre and works carefully with broad skills against concrete SLAs.
| Characteristic | Dev | Ops |
|---|---|---|
| Cares about | Custom applications and how they work | Running the applications, plus the infrastructure, OS, network |
| Seen by the business as | Profit centre: asks for resources | Cost centre: provides and bills resources |
| Performance measured | Abstractly (including poor metrics) | Concretely (SLA compliance, problems solved) |
| Skills needed | Deep rather than broad: languages, APIs, architecture, tools, process | Broad rather than deep: configuration, administration, OS, automation |
| Flexibility | Move fast, innovate, break things, fix later | Every investment must be justified, expectations managed |
The table explains why the two sides clashed. Dev is rewarded for change and Ops is measured on stability, so each new release is a gain for one side and a risk for the other. DevOps tries to give both one shared goal: delivering business value reliably.