This DevOps thing again

Lately, everyone has been buzzing about working the DevOps way to the point where small business and large corporations buy into the DevOps way of life (including the company I work for, but do they really understand it ?

This is the first article of my very own little DevOps series. In this article, I will explain some of the fundamentals, or what I believe as principals of DevOps.

The sales Pitch: Well, apparently DevOps is the magic wonder that somehow increases the velocity and quality of work. ship something faster and better right ? so how does DevOps actually achieve this ?

here’s a little DevOps Equation:

Velocity + Quality = DevOps

what does this mean ? how does DevOps give us more velocity and quality ?
Well, it’s all about feedback and coordination. The faster you get feedback the faster you can do something about it! simple right ?

so what is this DevOps thing ?
Well, DevOps does not mean just Dev and Operations, no it does not mean just Dev, QA, and Operations either. it really means everything from Development to Operations, which could include QA and whoever else is in between.

I feel that DevOps is not just about automation and being super efficient – there is a huge cultural drive behind it. Culture is Key. The principals that I’m about to share with you are nothing new, it’s been around for a while. you may find that you already are practicing most of it (and enjoying it). They are known to me as the CALMS.

C - Culture
A - Automation
L - Lean
M - Measurement
S - Sharing

Culture

Culture speaks to all levels of your organization, you want to promote a constructive culture. you want people working together constructively and solving problems together. you want to create the good kind of competition.

You may have heard the famous line about falling fast and loud…what this really means is that it’s ok to fail as long as you learn from it. you want to be able to eliminate fear and build trust at all levels in your organization.

Automation

Let’s be honest, this is what most organizations are really interested in. the ability to make any kind of process more efficient, more reliable, and possibly cheaper. It sounds really good.

The speaks to making the job easier – not just for you, for your entire organization. let’s find ways to make work less stressful and eliminate the need for overtime.

Now don’t go off and automate everything you come across in the name of DevOps, automate where it makes sense to automate. automate where it brings some kind of value to your organization.

Lean

DevOps has been formed strongly around the principals of Agile and Lean – this is no secret. what we mean here is don’t do too much all at once. do things in small iterations.

If you are creating something new – start small – build it in its’ most basic form. Ensure what you build works and is of quality. Then start enhancing and evolving your idea to better fit the organization.

Measurement

The execs out there will love this one! this is about measuring as much as you can, and I don’t mean timesheets, it’s about knowing more about what you do and what you create.

DevOps is really about feedback and coordination. measurement supplies you with feedback, once you receive feedback you can do something about it – this is coordination and the concept of continuous learning.

Sharing

Sharing really stems from your culture. You want to create a culture that revolves around effective communication. Try to be open minded, don’t be afraid learn from others and be open to teaching others as well.

You want to develop good communication within your orgnization and break down the silos – get people working together!

Check back again, there will be more coming in the DevOps space. I plan to also dive into the more “cool” tech aspects as well. Not just mentioning the cool tools, but understanding how they work and why they work.