Janet's post — est. reading time: 11 min

For many organisations pursuing DevSecOps, the greatest barrier to success is not technological. It is cultural. While DevSecOps promises speed, safety, and seamless integration, too often teams remain fragmented—locked in patterns of conflict that undermine even the best tools and automation.

At the heart of this fragmentation lies the historic friction between security and development. Developers are incentivised to build quickly, release often, and innovate continually. Security teams, in contrast, are tasked with managing risk, enforcing compliance, and safeguarding data. These differing priorities create conflicting goals, tense interactions, and—when unmanaged—an adversarial culture that slows progress and erodes trust.

This article explores how organisations can transition from this state of friction to a culture of flow, where security and development operate not as opponents, but as collaborative partners driving shared outcomes.

Understanding the Root Causes of Friction

The traditional software development lifecycle often positions security as a late-stage activity. Developers write code and prepare it for release, only for security teams to intervene with audits, tests, and compliance checks. When vulnerabilities are discovered at this late stage, they require costly rework and can delay deployment. Developers, focused on delivery timelines, perceive security as an impediment. Security professionals, in turn, view developers as careless or dismissive of risk.

This dynamic fosters a blame culture. Developers argue that security concerns are raised too late. Security teams counter that they were not involved early enough. The resulting cycle damages morale and leads to poor communication, with each side operating defensively rather than collaboratively.

A global e-commerce company provides a telling example. When preparing to launch a new feature, developers worked at pace to meet customer demands. Only days before release, the security team uncovered a critical vulnerability. The deployment was halted. Developers felt blindsided. Security teams accused developers of ignoring best practices. The delay cost not only time and money, but also trust between the teams.

Embedding Security into Development: Moving Left, Moving Together

Solving these challenges requires more than improved tooling. It demands a cultural transformation where security is embedded into development from the outset—a core principle of “shifting left”.

By integrating security considerations into the earliest phases of planning, design, and coding, organisations can reduce the incidence of late-stage vulnerabilities. This approach ensures that security is not an afterthought or obstacle, but an enabler of high-quality, resilient software.

The Role of Security Champions

One of the most effective strategies for embedding security into development is the introduction of security champions. These are developers who receive specialised training in security principles and practices. They act as liaisons between the development and security teams, helping to identify potential risks early and disseminating security knowledge throughout their teams.

Security champions bridge the communication gap, translating security requirements into development-friendly language and vice versa. They empower developers to take ownership of security, fostering a sense of shared responsibility.

Organisations that adopt security champion programmes often see significant improvements in security posture and team morale. Issues are identified and addressed earlier. Collaboration increases. The number of late-stage security surprises declines.

Shared Dashboards: A Single Source of Truth

Another powerful unifying tool is the adoption of shared dashboards. When security and development teams have access to the same data—whether related to code quality, security vulnerabilities, or deployment readiness—transparency improves. Shared dashboards eliminate finger-pointing by providing a single, authoritative source of truth.

With shared metrics, teams can track key performance indicators such as vulnerability detection time, mean time to remediate, and code quality trends. This visibility fosters joint accountability and facilitates informed decision-making.

Building a Culture of Collaboration and Shared Responsibility

Unifying security and development requires a deliberate cultural shift. This shift does not occur through policy mandates alone. It emerges from sustained efforts to build trust, align goals, and create opportunities for joint problem-solving.

Key cultural practices include:

1. Cross-Functional Rituals: Regular meetings, joint sprint planning sessions, and post-incident reviews where both security and development teams participate equally.

2. Blameless Postmortems: When incidents occur, focus on systemic improvements rather than individual fault. This encourages openness and continuous learning.

3. Rewarding Collaborative Success: Recognise and celebrate instances where cross-team collaboration leads to improved outcomes, such as successful vulnerability remediation or accelerated releases without security incidents.

4. Security as a Quality Metric: Embed security considerations into the definition of “done” for development tasks. If code is not secure, it is not complete.

The Leadership Imperative

Executive leadership plays a pivotal role in fostering collaboration between security and development. Leaders must articulate a clear vision where security and speed are not mutually exclusive but mutually reinforcing.

Effective leaders align performance metrics across teams, breaking down siloed KPIs in favour of shared goals such as secure delivery speed, reduced incident rates, and improved customer satisfaction.

Moreover, leaders must allocate resources to support collaboration. This includes funding for security training, security champion programmes, and integrated tooling that facilitates transparency and joint accountability.

Automation as an Enabler, Not a Solution

While cultural change is paramount, automation remains a critical enabler of DevSecOps success. Automated testing, scanning, and compliance checks allow teams to maintain security standards without sacrificing speed.

However, automation should support human judgement, not replace it. Over-reliance on automated alerts can lead to noise fatigue and missed critical issues. Automated tools must be fine-tuned and integrated into workflows in a manner that enhances, rather than overwhelms, team efforts.

Case Study: Turning Conflict Into Collaboration

A mid-sized financial technology firm provides an illustrative case. Initially, security and development operated in isolation, resulting in frequent deployment delays and growing resentment between teams.

Recognising the need for change, the firm’s leadership implemented a security champion programme, established shared dashboards, and held monthly cross-functional review meetings. They also revised performance metrics to reward joint outcomes, such as vulnerability resolution rates and secure deployment frequency.

Within six months, the firm observed a 40% reduction in late-stage security findings, a 30% increase in development team satisfaction, and a notable improvement in deployment velocity.

Overcoming Common Pitfalls

Organisations seeking to unify security and development must navigate several common challenges:

Token Collaboration: Superficial joint activities without meaningful integration or shared accountability.

One-Way Communication: Security teams issuing mandates without soliciting developer input or understanding workflow constraints.

Tool Overload: Deploying numerous, disconnected tools that increase complexity rather than simplifying collaboration.

Lack of Executive Support: Without leadership commitment, cross-functional initiatives often falter due to resource constraints or conflicting priorities.

Looking Ahead: The Future of Unified Teams

As the pace of software delivery continues to accelerate and the threat landscape grows more complex, the need for unified security and development teams will only increase. Forward-thinking organisations are already moving beyond mere cooperation to full integration, where security is not a separate function but an embedded capability within development squads.

Emerging trends such as predictive security, continuous compliance, and real-time monitoring will further necessitate collaboration. Teams that embrace these changes proactively will gain not only enhanced security but also competitive advantage through faster, safer innovation.

A Final Reflection

If your organisation’s next major release depended not only on technical quality but also on the strength of collaboration between security and development, would you be ready?

DevSecOps success is not defined by tools or policies alone. It is defined by people—working together with clarity, respect, and a shared commitment to building fast and building safely.

Move from friction to flow. And let collaboration become your organisation’s greatest security asset.