2026 DevSecOps Predictions

The momentum is shifting from "shift left" to what's becoming known as "shift down": instead of placing specialized responsibilities on developers, organizations are building development platforms that present opinionated paths and implement best practices by default. That change in momentum is bound to accelerate in 2026. The effect is the same as "shift left" in terms of where things are addressed in the software lifecycle, but much of the cognitive load of implementing these domains of expertise moves back from application developers to platform developers and domain specialists. - Joe Thompson