What is the DevOps lifecycle? Walk through its phases (Plan → Code → Build → Test → Release → Deploy → Operate → Monitor).

The DevOps lifecycle is a continuous loop with eight phases — often visualized as an infinity (∞) symbol because there is no 'end'.

• 1. Plan — define features, user stories, sprints. Tools: Jira, Linear, Azure Boards.

• 2. Code — write source code, manage in Git.

• 3. Build — compile, package, build artifacts and container images. Tools: Maven, Gradle, npm, Docker.

• 4. Test — automated unit, integration, security, and performance tests.

• 5. Release — promote artifacts through environments with approvals.

• 6. Deploy — push to production. Tools: Argo CD, Spinnaker, Helm, Jenkins.

• 7. Operate — run production: scaling, on-call, configuration management.

• 8. Monitor — collect metrics, logs, traces. Insights feed back into Plan.

Critical insight: monitoring closes the loop — production data drives the next iteration of planning.