DevOps is also characterized by operations staff making use many of the same techniques as developers for their systems work.

TheAgileAdmin

Devops is a philosophy. A sysadmin applying DevOps principles is effectively a DevOps engineer.

There are some nuances and a degree of variance across roles and individuals. But we have similar goals and work on similar things.

There are a handful of tools that are new and shiny, which a devops engineer would be more inclined (or allowed) to use. So you might call these "devops tools," but a sysadmin may use these tools just as well.

I believe DevOps is a philosophy and not a role. DevOps is not like, "old wine in a new bottle". Thus, rebranding ourselves as DevOps Engineers doesn’t really makes sense if we don’t adhere to DevOps standards.

Successful implementation of DevOps philosophies and strategies must turn IT into a competitive advantage for the Business and not to appease a CXO.

DevOps really means Developers and Operation Engineers(SysAdmins) work in tandem without any silos. They must have goals that are aligned to each other. Developers and Operation Engineers must share ownership of all the tasks involved in running day-to-day operations of the company, and also must apply tactical strategies to gain the competitive advantage.

What DevOps is not (Referring from many books and gurus of DevOps)?

DevOps is not NoOps .DevOps is not Dev in Ops clothing.

Development teams won’t take over Operations. Operations won’t take over Development.

DevOps and Agile are not the same/equal.

DevOps adoption/implementation is not by rebranding of Ops or Dev to DevOps.

DevOps is not a new department and attempts to establish a DevOps department may lead to bizarre conditions.

DevOps is not a process. It’s a philosophy. It’s a way of thinking. DevOps is supported by process and tools.Many people think about tools instead of people and processes when they think about DevOps.

DevOps is not a new tool for eliminating operations staff but it is an approach for freeing up time of the current staff to focus on harder problems that can deliver even more business value.

Communication,Collaboration and Integration are key factors required for building a DevOps team.

A team (Dev + Ops ) can be badged as a DevOps team (if it practices the DevOps philosophies), but I personally don’t believe in creating individual roles/designations which are branded as DevOps engineers.