How is DevOps different from traditional Waterfall and Agile development?

The three approaches differ in how often software is delivered and who is involved.

• Waterfall — sequential phases (requirements → design → build → test → deploy). Long release cycles (months/years), heavy handoffs between teams, late feedback.

• Agile — iterative sprints, short cycles, dev-team focused. Fixes the development side but Ops often remains a separate team with manual handoffs.

• DevOps — extends Agile principles to operations. Continuous delivery, automated infrastructure, shared ownership of production. Releases happen multiple times per day.

Practical view: Waterfall is rigid, Agile is iterative dev, DevOps is end-to-end automated delivery from commit to production.