Decide when to use greenfield and brownfield projects

  • 3 minutes

When starting a DevOps transformation, you might need to choose between greenfield and brownfield projects.

There's a common misconception that we need to demystify that DevOps suits greenfield projects better than brownfield projects.

Greenfield projects

A greenfield project will always appear to be a more accessible starting point. A blank slate offers the chance to implement everything the way that you want.

You might also have a better chance of avoiding existing business processes that don't align with your project plans.

Suppose current IT policies don't allow the use of cloud-based infrastructure. In that case, the project might be qualified for entirely new applications designed for that environment from scratch.

For example, you can sidestep internal political issues that are well entrenched.

Brownfield projects

Usually, brownfield projects come with:

  • The baggage of existing codebases.
  • Existing teams.
  • A significant amount of technical debt.

But, they can still be ideal projects for DevOps transformations.

When your teams spend large percentages of their time just maintaining existing brownfield applications, you have limited ability to work on new code.

It's essential to find a way to reduce that time and to make software release less risky. A DevOps transformation can provide that.

The limitations will have often worn down the existing team members. For example, they're working in the past and aren't keen to experiment with new ideas.

The system is often crucial for organizations. It might also be easier to gain more robust management buy-in for these projects because of the potential benefits delivered.

Management might also have a stronger sense of urgency to point brownfield projects in an appropriate direction when compared to greenfield projects that don't currently exist.

Take the first step

Eventually, the goal will be to evolve your entire organization. In looking to take the first step, many organizations start with a greenfield project and then move on.