DevOps is the combination of application development and operations, which minimizes or eliminates the disconnect between software developers who build applications and systems administrators who keep infrastructure running.
When the Agile methodology is properly used to develop software a new bottleneck often appears during the deployment and operations phases. New updates and fixes are produced so fast in each sprint that infrastructure teams can be overwhelmed with deployments and push back on the pace of delivery. To allievate some of these issues, application developers are asked to work closely with operations folks to automate the delivery from development to production.
DevOps vs. Platform Engineering considers DevOps an ad hoc approach to developing software while building a platform is a strict contract. I see this as "DevOps is a process", while a "platform is code". Running code is better than any organizational process.
DevOps: Python tools to get started is a presentation slideshow that explains that while DevOps is a culture, it can be supported by tools such as Fabric, Jenkins, BuildBot and Git which when used properly can enable continuous software delivery.
Why are we racing to DevOps? is a very high level summary of the benefits of DevOps to IT organizations. It's not specific to Python and doesn't dive into the details, but it's a decent start for figuring out why IT organizations consider DevOps the hot new topic after adopting an Agile development methodology.
Searching for a complete, step-by-step deployment walkthrough? Learn more about The Full Stack Python Guide to Deployments book.
