We are excited to announce that the DevOps Dozen² 2023 nominations are now open. Now in its ninth year, the DevOps Dozen once again highlights the leading innovators in the DevOps world. 

As we’ve done the last three years, there are actually 24 award categories. Twelve are aimed at the many great commercial DevOps solution categories in the market. The other twelve are aimed at the vibrant community and open source ecosystem which powers the DevOps movement. 

Step 1 of 7

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Which of the following best describes how you currently monitor and manage systems across your hybrid cloud environment?(Required)

Multiple separate tools for different environments

Multiple separate tools for different monitoring and management functions

Single consolidated dashboard

Custom built monitoring and management solution

No full monitoring and management solution

Don’t know

How valuable would it be for your monitoring and management solution to incorporate predictive analytics to help you identify and address system issues that are critical and not waste time or effort working through all the data and “noise” that is not critical?(Required)

Extremely valuable

Moderately valuable

Somewhat valuable

Slightly valuable

Not valuable

How do you most typically address potential system issues BEFORE they impact your operations?(Required)

Automated workflows and playbooks to remediate potential issues as soon as they are detected

An orchestrated response process that leverages automation, AI, and human expertise to rapidly respond to potential issues

Advanced monitoring tools such as predictive analytics and anomaly detection to proactively identify and address potential issues

Respond to issues as they arise, using manual processes and troubleshooting techniques

A combination of automated remediation, orchestrated response, and/or proactive monitoring to address potential system issues

Don’t know

Other

What methods does your organization use to control and monitor cloud/IT spending?(Required)

Centralized procurement processes

Pre-approved budget thresholds

Automated cost monitoring tools

Department-level spending controls

Regular cost audits and reviews

Cloud cost optimization platform

Approval workflows for resource provisioning

Native financial operations tools provided by the cloud provider

No formal controls in place

Don’t know

Other

Please specify:

Which methods do you rely on most to detect security vulnerabilities in your systems?(Required)

Automated scanning tools

Manual assessments

Vendor notifications

Threat modeling (for early detection)

None of these

Don’t know

Other

Please specify:

What are the TWO most common ways you prioritize vulnerabilities to address within your environment?(Required)

Based on potential impact

Based on exploitability

Regulatory compliance requirements

Based on CVSS scores

Risk-based analysis of multiple factors

First-in-first-out approach

No formal prioritization process

Don’t know

How do you typically handle system updates and security patches?(Required)

Automated updates and patches

Manually review and apply updates and patches on a regular schedule

A combination of automation and manual review

Apply updates and patches on an as-needed basis.

Outsourced update and patch management

No defined process

Don’t know

Other

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As in years past, the selection process has two tiers. Nominations for finalists are open now and will close on October 20, 2023. We will announce the finalists on November 13, 2023. After the finalists are announced, open voting will be conducted to determine the winners in each category. Public voting accounts for 40% of the weighted final count, with 60% coming from the votes of this year’s panel of judges.

This year’s judges are myself, Alan Shimel, CEO of Techstrong Group, Mitchell Ashley, CTO of Techstrong Group, Sharon Florentine, managing editor of DevOps.com, and John Willis, DevOps luminary and author. As we’ve done in past years, we are asking the 12 companies that receive commercial category nominations to pay a nominal fee to cut down on spam submissions and help cover the cost of tracking the nominations, trophies and other administrative expenses. Community awards remain free to nominate but spamming nominations will result in disqualification.

We have not changed the categories from last year, though we did consider adding a category for AI in DevOps. Perhaps next year. Without further ado, here are the 24 categories for the DevOps Dozen awards:

DevOps Dozen Tools and Services Awards

• Best End-to-End DevOps Tool/Service
  Consolidation in the DevOps space has led to a greater selection of platforms offering end-to-end solutions. This award honors the platform with the most diverse and robust solution for DevOps teams.

• Best DevOps Repo/GitOps Tool/Service
  GitOps has become an integral part of the DevOps toolbox. This award is presented to the most outstanding code repository/Git/GitOps tool.

• Best CI/CD Tool
  This award recognizes the best CI/CD tool that helps teams to deliver quality code faster.

• Best Value Stream Management Tool
  Value stream management has come into its own as an important tool for measuring the business value of DevOps and application development. This award recognizes the value stream management tool that most effectively helps organizations visualize the value stream, track metrics and measure improvement.

• Best Observability Solution
  This award recognizes the best observability solution for understanding the performance of individual components, systems and entire applications.

• Best DevSecOps Solution
  This award honors the best DevSecOps solution, which enables security to be included earlier in and continuously throughout the SDLC.

• Best Testing Tool/Service
  Testing is a mainstay in the DevOps toolchain. This award recognizes the best testing tool for ensuring the quality of code.

• Best Kubernetes Platform/Service
  The adoption of containers has paved the way for an entire solutions ecosystem. Kubernetes is perhaps the most widely recognized and utilized tool for container orchestration. There are many platforms and services that offer Kubernetes-based solutions. This award honors the best Kubernetes platform/service available.

• Best Cloud-Native Security Solution/Service
  The cloud-native movement has taken the IT world by storm due to the depth and breadth of the solutions available and the benefits of building applications and services specifically for cloud-native environments. This award recognizes the best cloud-native tools, solutions and services.

• Best DevOps for Mainframe Solution
  Despite their age, mainframes are a mainstay in the IT world, and a variety of solutions are available for enabling DevOps practices in mainframe and hybrid environments. This award recognizes the best of them.

• Best DevOps for DataOps/Database Solution
  Databases often have been left out of the DevOps conversation, but that is changing  as the concept of DataOps is gaining greater traction. This award recognizes the best solution in the database and DataOps space.

• Best New DevOps Tool/Service Provider
  This award recognizes the best new service provider or tool that has brought innovation to the DevOps space in the past year (must be less than 24 months old).

DevOps Dozen Community Awards

• Best DevOps Industry Implementation
  This award honors organizations that have successfully adopted and implemented DevOps principles and practices.

• Best DevOps Survey/Analysis/Research
  This award recognizes research that has significantly and positively impacted the DevOps community.

• Best DevOps-Related Video Series (video)
  This category highlights the most entertaining, educational and inspirational DevOps video series—those with the most engaging and highest-quality content.

• Best DevOps-Related Audio Podcast Series
  Which is your favorite DevOps podcast from this year? This category celebrates the many great DevOps podcasts driving discussions about everything from CI/CD and testing to DevSecOps, Kubernetes, containers and more.

• Best DevOps Book/eBook of the Year
  Each year sees a plethora of well-crafted DevOps-related books and ebooks. This category highlights the most popular and  most-read of the year.

• Top DevOps Evangelist
  This category is one of our favorites! There are so many great evangelists who spread the DevOps gospel, but we want to know who does it best. Nominees can work within the DevOps space or outside of it.

• Best DevOps Transformation (non-vendor)
  In a year marked by continued digital transformation, we want to know which organizations stood out in their efforts to transform their business through DevOps.

• Best DevOps Event of the Year
  Virtual events became the norm throughout  the pandemic. But as more people crave face-to-face interaction, in-person events have slowly made a comeback. Which DevOps event stands out from the crowd?

• Most Innovative DevOps Open Source Project
  Open source projects are meant to promote innovation and increase efficiency, velocity and quality. While there are many great open source projects out there, the best ones are those that create a community of people who work on and with the technology and support each other.

• DevOps Executive of the Year (non-vendor)
  This category celebrates excellence among DevOps leaders at the C-suite (or equivalent) level.

• Best DevOps Presentation of the Year
  This category recognizes the best DevOps-themed presentation from the many (virtual) conferences that took place this year.

• Best DevOps.com Article of the Year
  This category celebrates excellence among DevOps leaders at the C-suite (or equivalent) level.

Good luck to everyone nominating for the DevOps Dozen² Awards 2023. We will update finalists on November 13.