5 Tips for Building a Winning DevOps Culture

For businesses, the uncertainty of the future is often difficult to take place, as is the case with navigation, which is often a proven route to safety, as it is in the construction of a devops culture. Recently, a senior strategist at CA Technologies, Peter Waterhouse, wrote a 5-point proposal for the enterprise to build a DevOps culture, translated by ONEAPM engineers.

The following is the translation

Based on our cognition, in the food chain, humans and other animals do not have two, all follow the survival-based behavior patterns. If there is no problem with the food we eat today, we will continue to eat it tomorrow. If we can sail on a route that is not dangerous, we will repeat the journey again and again.

The analogy above aptly explains the "difficult way to change" argument. Evolutionary history teaches us to try to avoid things that could lead to injury or death, whether in life or in business.

But the changing landscape of the commercial jungle is far more rapid than ever, and the fast-paced and ubiquitous technological innovations have brutally destroyed the once-inflexible business model. We are now faced with the choice of coming out of the comfort zone or being eaten alive.

Today, companies need regular and continuous innovation, but there are still many companies that are more accustomed to operating in safe mode, and this problem needs to be solved. For these companies, fear of change dominates – even if the company loses market share, talent is rapidly losing.

If the leadership waking awaken to a commitment to building a culture of innovation, the situation still turns. This is especially important in the IT industry because it is the place where innovation originates. To seize this opportunity, many companies are throwing olive branches into agile methodologies and devops – choosing software practices that deliver fast and high quality. In the process of building culture, every step is not easy. The following five recommendations will help build a successful devops:

1. Avoid isolating DevOps from other teamsThe implementation of any new initiative naturally tends to form an independent team. Most of the time, this means introducing some outside experts to select the most advantageous and best in-house talent portfolio in the development and Operations department, and then perform operations that are significantly different from the rest of the IT department.

But we must remember that devops is not a function, but a model of cooperation between development and operations. Therefore, building an independent team is nothing more than creating another silo, because "elite" teams tend to create more friction and hinder the process of building.

The DevOps team has significant value in the early stages of the process, but only as a transitional practice. In this case, the team members are chartered to disseminate knowledge, build bridges across the enterprise, and in-depth practice is dissolved and rooted in the enterprise.

2. Even the elite cannot be a "destructive" narcissist.-A strong devops culture is based on cooperation and empathy, where members can share successes and learn from failures. But if new initiatives are dominated by those who chase the name of the profits-especially those who value personal honor and welfare-they will inevitably influence the construction of a devops culture.

But reality often backfired, and such people are always energetic and well suited to lead emerging important cultural change initiatives. But energy and intelligence don't necessarily match, so when it comes to building a team, it's more about people who think, not the talkers. Those who may be introverted, with a wealth of knowledge and emotional intelligence, are often more likely to promote a vibrant culture.

3. Reward your thoughts and crazy ideas. Ever wonder where the great business ideas like Airbnb come from? It's probably the people who like to keep creating problems to challenge the status quo-why not turn the vacant room into a profitable little hotel?

In a devops environment, we can use a similar approach. Look for ways to execute the process, and then suggest alternative methods based on intuition. For example, if the change management process is completely wrong, can we find ways to improve the automation of agile development? Why should we wait for production monitoring, if we create monitoring in programming and testing, can we further improve elasticity?

The strong DevOps culture is always generous in encouraging good ideas and rewarding them. Otherwise, great ideas can be lost or overlooked, or even worse, erased by the elites and narcissistic fanatics.

4. Respect failure-if you want to quit, it's not difficult to find a reason to give up through past failures. As some say, "We've tried agile tactics 5 years ago, but it's an overhead shell--devops and it's not going to be any better!" "Pessimism, just as poison can invade the heart, closes the door to risk and hinders the path of exploring the digital future."

No one likes to talk about failure, but the key to advancing DevOps is the courage to take the wrong when problems arise. Failure is a double-edged sword, and the focus is on whether you can gain learning experience from each failure. Avoiding the mouth does not solve the problem, it is better to consider them as a stepping stone to build a better future.

Therefore, from the failure to come out, the need for mutual support between the team. Management should be a combination of incentives that reward reasonable risk-taking and eliminate any system that could stifle innovative thinking.

5. Promotion of human and process norms-Even with great devops tools, DevOps does not provide any way to optimize for any bad processes or inter-firm friction. In most cases, defects and delays are still attributed to those implementing strict policies, or relying on manual and error-prone delivery processes.

A good way to learn from the manufacturing industry is to take "value walk" in the enterprise. It takes time to interact with people at work (development, testing, publishing, etc.)-not to find errors, but to understand scenarios that might increase the burden of waste and technical debt, and then be able to remediate automation.

DevOps is really hot lately, but don't be biased, and the change is still difficult. Before you begin "DevOps," you must ensure that you have the right leadership, your colleagues, and the thought of change so that everyone is actively involved in the journey to a perfect metamorphosis.

Original link: 5 Tips for Building a Winning DevOps Culture (Zebian/Zhonghao)

5 Tips for Building a Winning DevOps Culture