In a DevOps environment with independent product teams and centralized governance, ITIL 4 recommends balancing autonomy with consistency. Option C, where a centralized deployment management team supports product teams by providing guidance and tooling, aligns with this approach. It ensures that teams retain flexibility to deploy efficiently while benefiting from standardized tools, best practices, and governance, maintaining organizational alignment and reducing risks of inconsistency.

Option A (Each development team should have an independent deployment manager who owns all aspects of deployment within that team):Incorrect, as fully independent deployment managers per team could lead to inconsistent practices and tools, undermining centralized governance and creating silos.

Option B (A centralized deployment management team should manage and coordinate deployments for all development teams):Incorrect, as centralizing all deployment activities reduces team autonomy, contradicting DevOps principles of empowering teams and slowing down delivery.

Option C (A centralized deployment management team should support the product teams by providing guidance and tooling):Correct, as it supports DevOps autonomy while ensuring consistency through shared tools (e.g., CI/CD pipelines) and guidance, aligning with ITIL 4’s focus on value co-creation and governance.

Option D (Software developers in each team should take full responsibility for deployment of software that they develop):Incorrect, as while developers often handle deployments in DevOps, completely bypassing a structured deployment management practice risks non-compliance with governance and inconsistent outcomes.