The DevOps lifecycle is often represented as an infinity loop because it’s not a one-time process—it’s a continuous cycle of improvements. Let’s break down each stage in detail:

Stages of the DevOps Lifecycle

1 - Plan

This is where the foundation of the project is laid out. Teams gather business requirements, discuss new features, identify user stories, and prioritize tasks. Planning also includes defining timelines, assigning responsibilities, and setting measurable goals.

• Activities: Requirement gathering, sprint planning, backlog creation

• Benefits: Clear roadmap, shared understanding, realistic timelines

• Tools: Jira, Trello, Azure Boards, Confluence

2 - Code

Developers start writing application code, following best practices such as modular design, peer reviews, and maintaining clean, reusable code. Version control ensures collaboration between multiple developers without conflicts.

• Activities: Writing code, code review, version control, branching strategies

• Benefits: Collaboration, accountability, and ability to track every change

• Tools: Git, GitHub, GitLab, Bitbucket

3 - Build

Once code is committed, the build stage compiles the source code, resolves dependencies, and packages it into executable artifacts (like JAR, WAR, or Docker images). This stage often includes static code analysis and pre-build checks to catch issues early.

• Activities: Compilation, artifact generation, dependency management

• Benefits: Ensures code is production-ready and consistent across environments

• Tools: Maven, Gradle, Jenkins, Docker

4 - Test

Automated testing plays a critical role here. Unit, integration, functional, and regression tests validate the application’s behavior. Automated test suites are triggered in the CI/CD pipeline to ensure that every code change maintains quality and does not break existing functionality.

• Activities: Automated/unit testing, regression testing, performance testing

• Benefits: Higher reliability, reduced bugs, faster feedback loops

• Tools: Selenium, JUnit, TestNG, Postman, PyTest

5 - Release

At this stage, code that has passed testing is packaged and made ready for deployment. CI/CD pipelines automate the release process, ensuring consistency, version tracking, and rollback capabilities in case of issues.

• Activities: Tagging, versioning, staging approval

• Benefits: Faster release cycles, less manual effort, reduced human error

• Tools: Jenkins, GitHub Actions, GitLab CI/CD, CircleCI

6 - Deploy

This stage involves moving the tested build into production (or staging) environments. Deployment can be manual or fully automated. DevOps encourages blue-green deployment, rolling updates, or canary releases to minimize downtime and risks.

• Activities: Container orchestration, zero-downtime deployment, environment scaling

• Benefits: Stable, reliable, and smooth rollouts

• Tools: Kubernetes, AWS Elastic Beanstalk, Docker Swarm, ArgoCD

7 - Operate

The application is now live, serving real users. This stage focuses on maintaining availability, scaling infrastructure based on demand, applying patches, and ensuring the system operates smoothly under different conditions.

• Activities: Configuration management, infrastructure automation, applying patches

• Benefits: Consistent and reliable application performance in production

• Tools: Ansible, Terraform, AWS, Azure, GCP

8 - Monitor

Continuous monitoring ensures visibility into the system’s performance, user behavior, and potential failures. Real-time logging and monitoring detect bottlenecks or outages early so teams can respond quickly.

• Activities: Log management, performance monitoring, alerting

• Benefits: Proactive issue resolution, better user experience

• Tools: Prometheus, Grafana, ELK Stack (Elasticsearch, Logstash, Kibana), AWS CloudWatch, Datadog

9 - Feedback

The final stage feeds insights from monitoring, logs, and user feedback back into the Plan stage. This ensures that each iteration of the DevOps lifecycle is smarter and more effective than the last.

• Activities: Analyzing metrics, customer feedback, post-mortem reviews

• Benefits: Continuous improvement, customer-driven development

• Tools: Survey tools, Jira (for new tickets), monitoring dashboards

Real-Life Example:

Imagine a team building an E-commerce website

• In the Plan phase, they decide what features customers need.

• In Code & Build, developers write code and integrate it with GitHub.

• In Test, automated tools check for bugs.

• In Release & Deploy, the app goes live on AWS ☁️.

• In Operate, monitoring tools track performance.

• In Monitor & Feedback, customer reviews help improve the product.

This continuous loop ensures faster delivery, fewer errors, and happy users

In One Line

DevOps SDLC is not theory—it’s a living, continuous process that powers the apps we use daily, from food delivery to e-commerce to streaming platforms.