Leading DevOps

Traditional IT is failing in the enterprise because people are asked to do too much and they can't scale.  Why does a DevOps culture want small full stack teams that are highly collaborative, because it can scale and succeeds.  If you need to do more, you optimize with automation, become more efficient, you adjust scope or you add more resources where it makes sense for the business need. Silos do not scale.  On the surface you think it does and many IT leaders believe it does but scaling does not happen when you have competing goals and deliverable.  You just react to everything and mostly fail in one way or many.  The team misses deadlines, create issues, or have unhappy employees who are just waiting to move to a DevOps culture. DevOps cultures should be polarized.  You either enable people to do the job or you are part of the team.  You will fail if you are in the middle.  If you work in a silo that tries to be technical, business and proj...

We all know culture is a huge part of DevOps.  What we don't know is how to change it.  The easy answer is change culture just like you would "eat an elephant",  one bite at a time.  What this does not tell you is where it start.  Do you start with the thigh, leg, tail or even the head?  This is where you should look at culture change just like any other lean process improvement.  Here are some examples: Focus on the value to the customer This will help you sale why DevOps is important to the company.  There are plenty of information and statistics of how DevOps is changing the industry.  Do your research and be prepared when a decision is made that is anti-DevOps.  Try to right the ship and stir it a little closer to DevOps.  Keep iterating through these opportunities over time. Respect and Engage People Culture change and job change is scary.  You will meet people who hate you.  You have to be a leader that c...