DevOps Has Always Been Hard to Define. Does a Standard Help?
DevOps.com, Wednesday, October 7th, 2026
Alan Shimel reviews The DevOps Standard from PeopleCert and DevOps Institute, including its AI guidance and open questions on stewardship.
DevOps.com founder Alan Shimel, who discloses that he co-founded DevOps Institute, reviews The DevOps Standard published by PeopleCert and DevOps Institute, noting that DevOps' long ambiguity let companies rename teams and declare victory.
The standard offers a shared vocabulary across leadership, culture, design, testing, infrastructure, security, delivery and observability without prescribing one implementation, and its AI guidance separates advisory help, bounded automation and higher-impact actions.
Its credibility will depend on transparent stewardship, links to existing standards and practical guidance for governing agents.