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Author: John Engates

  • Detours Ahead: Overcoming DevOps Challenges

    Detours Ahead: Overcoming DevOps Challenges

    Saying that you’re interested in DevOps is another way of saying you’re interested in change. That’s what DevOps promises any organization. No matter the problems a company is trying to solve or the goals it’s trying to reach, DevOps depends on a willingness to embrace some big changes. Sure, it can help you streamline software deployments, but it requires shaking up a company’s usual processes and routines. As we all know, change can be complicated, so before your organization transitions to an agile culture, it’s best to prepare for the likely challenges ahead.

    Breaking Old Habits for Continuous Delivery

    Many of the procedures we follow at work each day are second nature, and what’s familiar carries a certain comfort with it. Even when we realize a more efficient process is within reach, old habits are tough to break. For an organization that employs hundreds, any change can be a challenge.

    And DevOps offers no shortage of challenges. It entails overhauling a company’s deployment process, its communication patterns, its department structures and even the roles of individuals on a team. Yet unless an organization is willing to let go of its old habits, the benefits of continuous delivery won’t ever be achieved. When acclimating people to this new procedure, it’s important to convey that the old procedure – one team throwing code over the wall to another one – will be left behind for actual collaboration in which Development, Operations and possibly other departments work together, not just in silos.

    Getting Past the Resistance to Change

    Encountering some reluctance to change will be natural, and a smooth transition depends on making everyone aware of why DevOps will be a big step forward. This includes communicating what the advantages will be for individuals, departments and the company as a whole. With an agile plan in place, greater efficiencies will become the norm, and a team will have the ability to spot and fix problems more quickly, so 3 a.m. phone calls to the system admin won’t happen anymore. Once managers through C-level folks are aware of these potential advantages, resistance will gradually turn into acceptance and enthusiasm.

    Combating the Myths and Rumors

    Many think DevOps is only for the well-known unicorn companies, such as Etsy and Facebook, or that it’s an exact science that will produce the same results for everyone. Some even believe the rumor that DevOps only works with certain operating systems. The truth is that continuous development can take place anywhere as long as the company culture is right. As detailed in the Rackspace-sponsored e-book, The DevOps Mindset: Real-World Insights from Tech Leaders, many DevOps practitioners went through their own uphill climbs to become more agile, and they have the firsthand experience to resolve many popular misconceptions.

    “You don’t have to be in Silicon Valley to embrace the DevOps culture,” says James Kenigsberg of 2U. “In fact, many new firms these days have a bad habit of building shiny technology because it is shiny, which goes against the DevOps principles of communication and transparency.”

    Jeff Hackert of Chef dispels the myth that DevOps is a one-size-fits-all solution. “It is not a set of proscriptions or a recipe that will give you a defined best practices outcome,” he explains. “Your best practice is the collective wisdom of the very smart people you’ve hired to solve your problems. And if what you have is a siloed or broken environment, you want to increase the communication, not impose new rules.”

    Getting Automated Without a Struggle

    When an organization is considering DevOps, they may find that the opportunities for efficiency not only involve employee collaboration, but technology as well. Most IT departments would jump at any chance to save time when it comes to coding procedures, and automation is a means of making this happen. By offloading these processes to an automated system, people can tackle other tasks, and businesses that release several deployments a day can greatly simplify their rollouts. For those who might not be familiar with the ins and outs of automation, receiving some guidance from a trusted IT provider can be a good first step. Finding an advisor to guide your initial automation efforts can prevent the expense of hiring a DevOps engineer with automation knowledge.

    Finding a Path Around DevOps Obstacles

    Every company’s DevOps strategy will be unique, and every company’s plan for overcoming challenges will be just as unique. Whatever the circumstances, communication will be crucial to any adoption, as it ensures that everyone understands why such a change is necessary. Getting acquainted with the success stories out there will dispel any myths circulating among team members, and stumbling blocks can be avoided by the understanding that familiar silos will be replaced by more efficient collaborations.

    Despite its challenges, DevOps can be the catalyst for a variety of improvements, from productivity to employee morale. Those who are the most successful at being agile will not only have the right culture in place, but be able to negotiate the challenges that DevOps has in store for those ready to embrace change.

  • Collaboration in Progress: Making DevOps a Reality

    Collaboration in Progress: Making DevOps a Reality

    Everything on your company’s DevOps checklist is accounted for. It’s got the vision and the talent. It’s identified the problems and mapped out a solution. It’s got a culture that allows the flexibility that such a plan requires. Now’s the time to put the plan into action and let the benefits begin.

    The truth is that it may not be that simple. A great plan won’t mean anything unless everyone understands how to achieve it. And whatever a company’s DevOps strategy consists of, collaboration is the key to making it a reality.

    Collaboration is at the heart of DevOps. It’s even conveyed in the phrase itself. No matter the size of your company, this new process of teamwork and transparency relies on combining strengths between Development and Operations to achieve goals that otherwise wouldn’t be possible.

    Breaking Silos with a Full-Circle Approach

    With one department responsible for writing code and another responsible for implementing it, silos can naturally form as each group focuses on its job. This kind of structure is what commonly gives rise to software deployments taking longer than they should and even little or no communication taking place between the two departments.

    DevOps has come about as an antidote to these kinds of siloed situations in which inefficiencies and a lack of teamwork are the norm. Yet for DevOps to take off, both Development and Operations have to participate fully and understand that collaboration requires equal cooperation from both sides. Such collaboration has to take place not just at certain stages, but throughout the life of a project. When each team is invested in the effort by providing feedback, helping identify future problems and continually learning from day-to-day deployments, a company has a great chance of seeing benefits from these new collaborative efforts. Without complete buy-in from everyone, the process will never get off the ground.

    The Evolution of Collaboration

    Just as DevOps is about moving beyond the assembly line process of software development, the concept of collaboration itself is evolving. DevOps-style teamwork can consist of more than breaking down the silos between different teams. In an agile infrastructure, team members can wear different hats and swap responsibilities depending on the demands of the day. Instead of a scenario in which people work on single specialized tasks without any interaction with the larger group, you’ll have contributors who can play multiple roles within a team and understand how this boosts productivity for the entire company, rather than just a single department. It’s possible that a team member can function as a developer one day and then work on deployments another. Through DevOps, an organization can advance beyond one-dimensional departments and one-dimensional contributions.

    Real-World DevOps Teamwork

    For many within the IT industry, DevOps is already a working reality. Breaking silos and becoming more agile are goals for companies that know how increased collaboration can help their business. A good source that lays out some first-hand experiences of DevOps practitioners can be found in the recently published Rackspace e-book, The DevOps Mindset: Real-World Insights from Tech Leaders. It features interviews with IT experts who discuss what led them to adopt a DevOps approach and recommendations for those interested in a new agile approach to software deployment.

    When discussing the importance of agile teamwork, James Kenigsberg of 2U remarks that, “To achieve true DevOps collaboration, you need your employees to really think and act as one, not just be merged together in name only.” As a provider of online university programs, 2U faces a huge demand for quick, dependable deployments and underwent a transition to increase teamwork at the company. “We had to flip the model,” Kenigsberg explains, “from the idea of personal heroics and siloed responsibilities to real, cross-functional collaboration.”

    Jim Kimball of fund administrator HedgeServ reiterates this cross-departmental approach. “Repeatability and scalability are our business,” he explains. “The capabilities that DevOps gives us directly enable this by encouraging collaboration within the organization to come up with better solutions.”

    Forging a Partnership Between Dev and Ops

    Assembling a skilled and talented group that will be the envy of your industry is the ideal every company would like to have. If you’re able to gather a team that’s the IT equivalent of the X-Men, it’s not enough to just assemble that talent and assign them siloed roles. Without frequent teamwork, not only will company goals become difficult to achieve, but solving problems will be nearly impossible.

    When Development and Operations see themselves as working in partnership with each other, the foundation for greater collaboration will be in place, and company goals, such as greater speed to market, increased productivity and an all-around agile performance, will be within reach. With the right mentality, DevOps can be an evolutionary step in company functionality and reach new levels of efficiency that otherwise wouldn’t be achievable.

  • The DevOps Litmus Test: Is Your Company’s Culture Ready to Get Agile?

    The DevOps Litmus Test: Is Your Company’s Culture Ready to Get Agile?

    New ideas don’t come to those who are afraid of breaking the rules. Improving something usually means you’ll have to push the status quo aside and try something that hasn’t been done before. What may be a standard operating procedure will have to make way for a brand-new approach with its own set of rules and goals.

    This applies directly to DevOps, which requires changes in how departments operate, how employees interact and how problems get solved. DevOps may be an idea your company is considering, but if the culture isn’t compatible with it, DevOps will never become an active part of your day-to-day operations.

    If DevOps Is the Engine, Culture Is the Fuel

    Let’s say two employees who don’t normally work together wind up taking an unprecedented approach to solving a problem. To their surprise, this new way of working together is incredibly efficient and a big improvement over their usual methods. The two recommend this kind of collaboration to others in their respective departments when it comes to spotting problems, fixing them and preparing for future ones.

    That’s the moment when you’ll know how receptive your company is to DevOps. This kind of cultural litmus test determines whether department silos can be broken down and new avenues of teamwork can happen. No matter the company or industry, its culture is the foundation for DevOps adoption. When that culture fits, DevOps is an ideal vehicle for improved productivity, with culture being the fuel moving it forward.

    Getting the Right Cultural Fit

    In order for DevOps to happen, you need the right conditions, similar to how certain plants only grow in the right ecosystem. Team members must be able to interact in ways they may not have in the past. The right culture is one that allows flexibility, spontaneity and resourcefulness to take place.

    On the flip side, DevOps won’t work in a rigid environment where departments are siloed and methods can’t be questioned. DevOps has a slim chance of taking off in a company that wants to hold onto previously established rules about divisions between departments. Anyone who stands up to say, “That’s not how we do things,” will be a hindrance to progress. Greater benefits are in reach, but to make them a reality, a company and its employees have to be willing to make some changes and allow agile collaborations to flourish.

    DevOps Culture in the Real World

    For those who have already put DevOps in action, culture was, and continues to be, a central issue. Household names like Twitter and Netflix may be known for their DevOps practices, but many lesser-known businesses have found that their cultures identify with DevOps collaborations. The recently published e-book from Rackspace, The DevOps Mindset: Real-World Insights from Tech Leaders features interviews with a variety of DevOps practitioners. The importance of culture is a common theme throughout these discussions.

    These firsthand accounts emphasize how encouraging new ways of solving problems depends on the proper culture. As James Kenigsberg of 2U explains, “You don’t have to be in Silicon Valley to embrace the DevOps culture; anyone can do it anywhere with the right people.” Bharat Krish, CIO of HBO Latin America, also emphasizes culture as an essential factor. “When I think of a DevOps culture,” Krish says, “for me it’s building a foundation where development can happen in a more agile fashion.”

    Start with the Biggest DevOps Requirement

    Knowing that DevOps benefits one company doesn’t necessarily mean it will automatically benefit another. Company processes, structure and communication standards all play a part in determining whether DevOps is right for your business. DevOps isn’t a product that can simply be plugged in – it requires a new way of thinking about agile software deployment.

    Culture has to be at the center of a DevOps adoption, and assessing your company’s culture is a crucial first step in determining whether DevOps will be a good fit for your organization. As long as your company is flexible enough to allow some cross-departmental collaboration and silos to be broken, then prepare for DevOps to take you to new levels of productivity. You’ll find that breaking the rules isn’t such a bad thing.