devopsy.kinsta.cloud

Tag: devopsy.kinsta.cloud

  • DevOps developers; don’t be a DevGoof

    DevOps developers; don’t be a DevGoof

    There was a lot of brush back last week over Jeff Knupp’s post about how DevOps is killing the developer. Frankly I wasn’t shocked by Knupp’s opinion that developers “are the dentists in the dental office”. In my 30+ years of involvement in the IT industry my experience is that developers often think of themselves as the only smart person in the room. Often times that is the reason they are are the only person in the room, lol. The fact is many developers relate better to code than to people. For me all this talk about DevOps killing the developer is akin to saying power steering killed the driver. Just because you can do more with new technology, does not mean one dies, one just has to pivot and in this case become business social.

    Now the sociable part may be the problem. Sometimes I feel that DevOps is trying to create a love fest between Ops, Developers, QA, security and the rest of the IT stack. While they may not have to love each other, I do think they all need to be nice to each other as opposed to ignoring  or just going around each other, as was all too often done in the past. A common scenario I have seen for example is for developers to rollover Ops by stating this is mission critical for the business. These tactics will no longer work to let developers have their way.

    Developers need to realize they need to become a normal part of the business social structure. They will be required to talk and work with people, not throw tantrums when they don’t get their way. Left unchecked, certain developer personality types can sabotage your project, or worse, make themselves no fun to work with.  I am sure we have all met and unfortunately had to work with people like that. In my career, I’ve encountered virtually every personality type. In fact, I’ve also knowingly hired all of them. They know who they are; they are the developer that if challenged or worse accurately taken to task for lack of being part of the team; quit cause they can’t manage the confrontation, thus interpersonal stress. In the old days they would not come out of their house for weeks continually playing Leisure Suit Larry, if your not familiar with it Google it

    I remember one of my good friends telling me this story that sums this whole developer persona issue perfectly. This company, we will call DevGoof, was a well funded start up. Every quarter they held a meeting with all the employees to let them know how the company was doing. Most employees had some kind of equity play in the company, so everyone was incented and theoretically interested in company performance. Several quarterly meetings came and went and not one developer showed up. Eventually DevGoof management got concerned and called a mandatory meeting for all developers’.

    DevGoof management put out some pastries, juice and coffee for the brain trust. Then proceeded to tell them why these meetings were important to them and their fellow employees. Notably pointing out how it is not just about them but also about the rest of the DevGoof team. This meeting went on for about one hour and not one developer asked a question. So eventually this meeting was over and everyone went back to developing. The next morning,   about 50% of the developers quit and some in a not so professional fashion.

    The moral of this blog is the DevOps is going to force the development community to become more interpersonal within the business environment. This will lead to personal success within the new world of DevOps. The DevOps Developer/Engineer that can demonstrate leadership and compassion for team will be the one leading the DevOps way within the organization. Don’t be a Devgoof!

    If you would like say something; email parker@devops.com and don’t forget to comment here.

  • Technology’s effect on religion

    Technology’s effect on religion

    Today being Good Friday, with Easter being Sunday and in the midst of Passover; it is a time for reflection. Instead of thinking about DevOps, today I ponder life and religion. What comes to mind is the future of religion in these technological times. The number of Americans with a religious affiliation continues to decline, less and less of us make an appearance at a Synagogue, Church or any house of worship for that matter. In my childhood we would at the very least make an appearance a few holidays a year, notably at the annual pancake breakfast.

    From the calculator to the computer, from mobile devices and the Internet, advances in technology are creating monumental changes in our lives and in turn the way religion is practiced.  The universal acceptance of mobile devices, like the iPhone and iPad, is provoking a profound social change. The dependence on these devices is eliminating the individuals need for traditional religion and going to traditional houses of worship. The problem is, without the traditional religious brick and mortar upbringing, the youth of today forgo a key element of the religious experience. Religion was never just about a supreme being, the social gathering and interaction of those with similar beliefs and values is also a critical part of the experience. Religion is losing the youth.

    It seems there are now thousands of apps which allow parishioners to bring Bible quotes, Torah-chanting practice and Buddhist prayer wheels anywhere, anytime day or night. My concern is how many of our youth are downloading religious apps as opposed to angry birds. The challenge is how to mobilize religion while still achieving all the religious personal support and socialization benefits that are realized from real life interaction in attending a place of worship. Is the virtual congregation a realistic way to gather people and practice religion? I have a hard time thinking the young will embrace religion without the real life experience which creates the feeling of being at peace with oneself.

    The virtual congregation will be effective fill in for those who have already experienced religion in the traditional sense. Worshippers who cannot find their way to their house of worship for services will pray online with their fellow believers via the latest technology, confident that the other worshipers are doing the same on their devices. How powerful that will be is the question, it has been relatively effective via Television. But those are already followers seeking religious celebrities, not new believers.

    There is no denying religious leaders who conduct services via technology to a geographically wide spread audience will notice a significant difference in how worshippers experience the event. Religion is very much an emotional event and technology can be a non starter for the holy rollers. Gathering around technology in smaller groups may be an answer.

    The religious apathy of the young produces a serious problem for religious leaders looking to grow shrinking congregations. The lack of formal religious upbringing has lost many of the young and younger worshippers that do exist expect any religious event  to embrace technology use. Device multitasking has become such a pervasive part of their life that quiet,  hard cover book based religious ceremonies seem awkward and therefore not compelling.

    Technology may represent the end of traditional religious worship, and the beginning of a new age of worship, the form of which no one can reasonably predict or control. The bottom line is if you look at technology and say how does this change people going to house of worship? You miss the point, because religion is a much deeper set of beliefs. The question is without new young followers, what does the future hold for organized religions?

    If you would like say something; email parker@devops.com and don’t forget to comment here.

     

  • DevOps Needs a Tsunami To Jump The Chasm

    DevOps Needs a Tsunami To Jump The Chasm

    All start up business endeavors must go through the phase of crossing the chasm.  Most of those business endeavors usually fall prey to the chasm. The chasm is this black hole that everyone claims to understand but no one truly does. We have all seen businesses cross the chasm or fail to cross the chasm and fall into the black hole. But no one seems to understand why and how that crossing happens. The bestselling book by Geoffrey A. Moore titled “Crossing the Chasm,” is all about the heart and soul required to get early stage technology across the chasm, from early adopters to mainstream customers.

    There is a big difference between people who are enthusiastic to try leading edge technologies and the rest of the inhabitants, who tend to be much more conservative. The reasons that people spend time trying to figure out how to cross or jump, if you will, the chasm is because that black hole is what stands between them and making their fortune. The early adopters are just a small sample of the market and there is no money in building a business or technology around them. To make real money, you need to cross over into the mainstream.

    In Geoff’s model, the innovators are all about technology.  You know those people, when a new iphone is released, they spend days standing on line to get latest and greatest new technology.  The early adopters are the visionaries that are always on the bleeding edge. The mainstream are the pragmatists, the people who practice risk avoidance. These pragmatists are the key to jumping the black hole, they move the needle.

    DevOps first order of business was getting on the curve and to that end DevOps has evangelists. But, understand that what worked in converting these early adopters probably won’t work for the pragmatists. These DevOps evangelists and visionaries want DevOps power tools, as opposed to the pragmatists who simply want to push the button and say “that was easy”.

    By all appearances DevOps has been accepted by the early adoption set. Just how does DevOps cross the chasm? Jumping the black hole after all can be quite a daunting task. To do so DevOps has to create what I refer to as the tsunami effect.

    The Tsunami effect is where DevOps gains acceptance in multiple industries or markets in what seems like a gold rush, it’s here that fortunes are made. More accurately, it’s where cult communities transform overnight into mainstream communities.  Many technologies simply create a single tornado which remains in a silo forever never gaining enough momentum to really emerge. Another common path what I call an earthquake, there is a lot of hype but it tends to fizzle out quickly, if not tended to properly. Right now DevOps has all the appearances of an earthquake, Devops evangelists have created a lot of buzz, but acceptance beyond a set of power tools is still a huge question.

    Considering DevOps is in the earthquake phase, as opposed to the tornado phase, DevOps cannot be successful converting one group at a time. The strategy in the tornado phase is convert industries and markets one at a time, via tornados forming within industries or markets. The tactical execution is to get smaller industries or markets committed and therefore the larger industries or markets will then embrace the movement. That is simply crossing the chasm. DevOps has too many cultural implications to convert believers over a long period of time; DevOps requires reorganization, not a subtle shift.

    Since I consider DevOps to be in the earthquake phase, crossing the chasm is not an option. DevOps must jump the chasm in a surge of overwhelming momentum, hence creating a tsunami. DevOps has created a very closely knit culture, DevOps needs to push hard to create a tsunami and flood the pragmatic population. But, be advised, DevOps has to be all but universally accepted, there is no almost in bringing together Dev and Ops. But if DevOps wins, it wins big, DevOps will go from being a niche culture to a truly mainstream practice.

    So what’s the strategy to create a tsunami? And more importantly, how do you move beyond the earthquake phase? Here’s how I see it according to Geoff, with my DevOps spin: First, DevOps must clearly establish that the mission-critical software development process is broken and is causing management enough pain that it would gamble on unproven methodology that is populated with a bunch of prima donnas. I am not convinced the DevOps cult has clearly established this as fact. Is the development and operations process broken or have just new power tools been created to improve speed and accuracy? Second, DevOps needs to present the total solution, not just tools. Overwhelm the community; each new DevOps tool should leverage the success and technology of the last hence creating a methodology. Even more importantly, because the DevOps tools are closely related, credibility can cross industries and markets and create the momentum required for a tsunami.  Once Devops has reached critical mass by providing the total solution in a few industries or markets simultaneously the tsunami is created and DevOps has jumped the chasm.

    The tsunami will emerge suddenly with everyone seeming to adopt DevOps all at once.  This will result in explosive growth and will pull, willingly or unwillingly, everyone into its path. It’s driven and sustained by the pragmatists.  Here, everybody has to get the latest thing all at once; the masses have been converted to DevOps. DevOps needs mass-market success, DevOps needs to become a tsunami and everyone will want to play DevOps.

    Now that you know the formula, go forward and create the perfect storm.

    If you would like to say something; email parker@devops.com and don’t forget to comment here.

     

  • THOUGHT LEADERS OR NAVEL GAZERS?

    THOUGHT LEADERS OR NAVEL GAZERS?

    I get tired of hearing what is DevOps? It just tells me that no one really has got it exactly right, but everyone longs to be the authority on the topic. Everyone writes their perceived answers ad nauseam. Reading all the different definitions is kinda like listening to infomercials. An individual puts themselves out there as an expert simply because they have an audience and the topic is in vogue.

    But before I go any further let’s put the “What is DevOps?” questions to bed once and for all. Of course the only real source to turn to is Wikipedia, as that is the definitive source and because it’s on the Internet you know it has to be true. Did I tell you I was a French model; bonjour.  Now to the definition you have been anxiously anticipating:

    DevOps (a portmanteau of development and operations) is a software development method that stresses communication, collaboration and integration between software developers and information technology (IT) operations professionals. DevOps is a response to the interdependence of software development and IT operations.

    There you have it; DevOps is a methodology not an industry. Now that that question has finally been answered, I hope that I never hear about it again, let’s turn back to those thought leaders. Let’s go back to time when many of today’s thought leaders were still asking what the internet is. Once again I refer to my expert source Wikipedia:

    A thought leader can refer to an individual or firm that is recognized as an authority in a specialized field and whose expertise is sought and often rewarded. The term was coined in 1994 by Joel Kurtzman, editor-in-chief of the Booz & Co magazine Strategy & Business, and used to designate interview subjects for that magazine who had business ideas which merited attention.

    Everything on the internet is about branding and the marketing of the brand. Thought leaders typically write a blog, column, book, record a podcast or webinar.  As long as the message resonates they don’t care about the delivery mechanism. So called thought leaders are simply marketing their brand whether they truly have the expertise to do so or not.  It is a simple process when you have a topic that is loosely defined in an early stage of development, as there is no objective measure of what is correct.

    Thought leaders typically are an individual or firm that profit from being recognized as such. I submit many are truly mere navel gazers, as a navel gazer is derived from the phrase “contemplating one’s navel” or “navel-gazing” if you will, typically referred to in jocular fashion, to refer to self-absorbed pursuits. Please someone explain to me the difference between thought leaders and navel gazers?

    We have so many self anointed thought leaders I am beginning to wonder is there anyone out there actually practicing DevOps or is everyone just talking about it to make a fast buck. If you are a thought leader why can’t you tell me if and when DevOps is going to cross the chasm?

    What have I learned from all this? DevOps needs an infomercial to cross the chasm, not thought leaders. Don’t even get me started on chasms.

    If you would like say something; email parker@devops.com and don’t forget to comment here.

  • devopsy.kinsta.cloud is Now an Official Media Sponsor of MongoDB World

    mongodbworlddevopsy.kinsta.cloud, the place where the world meets DevOps is happy to report that we will be an official media sponsor of the upcoming MongoDB World conference. The event is in NYC at the Sheraton New York Times Square, 811 7th Ave, New York, NY 10019 on June 23-25, 2014.

    devopsy.kinsta.cloud will be providing live coverage of the event throughout the conference. We will also have some interviews with speakers leading up to the event. Some of the headliners for MongoDB World are:

    mongoworldspeakers

     

    MongoDB World promises to be the best and biggest MongoDB event yet. devopsy.kinsta.cloud will be there to give you a bird’s eye view.

  • Winners of “The Phoenix Project” by Gene Kim From devopsy.kinsta.cloud

    As one of the banners on devopsy.kinsta.cloud says we are picking some lucky winners to receive a copy of Gene Kim’s “The Phoenix Project”.  To be eligible to win you must sign up for the devopsy.kinsta.cloud newsletter on the right of your screen.  We have more books to give away, so it is not too late for you to win your copy.

    PPhardcoverYou get a free great book and nightly updates of all the new content on devopsy.kinsta.cloud.

    Here are the first group of winners:

    Don Marsee, CISSP, CISM

    Jon Thorson

    Matthew Barr

    Steven Nemetz

    Their books are on the way. More winners will be announced next week!

  • devopsy.kinsta.cloud Pitches a Big Tent

    devopsy.kinsta.cloud Pitches a Big Tent

    If you are reading this you have already discovered one way or another, that the new devopsy.kinsta.cloud website has launched. I am proud to say that I have been one of a team of folks who have been working hard on devopsy.kinsta.cloud for many months and weeks now.  I will serve as editor-in-chief and as a co-founder. Anyone who has started a business knows that I am also chief cook and bottle washer. That is OK though. This is not my first start up. Staying up until 2:30 or 3:00 am working on the site reminded me of how alive you feel when you are building a business. If only you could bottle that. We know we have much more to do to realize our vision. But we think we have enough to introduce you, the DevOps community to devopsy.kinsta.cloud

    So what is devopsy.kinsta.cloud? Frankly, it is a big tent.  What we have tried to do is create a destination for the burgeoning DevOps community to gather.  Our goal is to have something for everyone with an interest in DevOps. We realize that many DevOps devotees are highly technical.  All of the culture and business discussions are nice, but how can you do more, faster and better? Our aim is to give you lots of information, education and resources to help in your everyday work. We want bloggers and writers who are living the DevOps life and are sharing their own experiences with you.  In fact, we also welcome you to participate fully by sharing your own experiences and thoughts as well. We are always looking for people who have something to add to the conversation.  That last phrase says it all. We want to add to the conversation.  But that conversation can’t be just for those who are technical. We want a bigger tent than that.

    I have met and there are many people who know little about DevOps. They have heard the name and are curious though. What they do know is that somehow this could help them transform their organizations into what my friend Gene Kim calls a high powered IT organization.  They are faced with a world where the rules have changed. Iterations take place daily if not hourly, automation is not nice to have, it is mandatory, software has replaced hardware for many. How can they succeed in this environment? DevOps is a key. We want devopsy.kinsta.cloud to have a place under our big tent for these people.  Whether they are C-level executives looking to leverage DevOps in their business, VCs looking for insights into their next investment or even job seekers, exploring what talents and skills they will need to succeed, devopsy.kinsta.cloud has a place for them under our big tent.

    Another goal of devopsy.kinsta.cloud is to be more than just a place with great articles, stories and DevOps related content.  We want to be a linchpin of the community.  Though not ready in time for our launch, you will shortly be seeing several other parts of devopsy.kinsta.cloud.  We will have a community forum Q&A section shortly.  If you have a question you can ask. Either someone from our staff or maybe someone in the community will answer. Maybe more than one person will answer even.  Maintaining these Q&As will over time build up a great knowledge base which will always be available to the community.

    Additionally, we want to facilitate and help all of the great meetup and user groups that are out there dedicated to DevOps.  I have spent a lot of time these past months going to meetings, observing, listening and understanding.  We know that these groups need speakers for monthly meetings, sponsors to supply food, drink and often a place to meet. Help with local community outreach and connecting with other groups to share ideas, experience and learning are also somethings these groups need.  The good news is there are plenty of people and organizations out there who want to help you.  Our mission will be to help match these groups together to strengthen these grass root groups. We have lots of room under the big tent to help in this mission.

    Holding a local DevOps Days or workshop?  Need sponsors, speakers, logistic support? devopsy.kinsta.cloud can help you too.  Local groups do more to further the DevOps cause than anyone. We want to help and encourage more of it.

    In the not too distant future devopsy.kinsta.cloud will also be more involved with conferences that play on bigger stages. Whether it be as a media sponsor, covering and reporting on the goings on or providing speakers and content ourselves, we will be on the scene. We plan on holding our own conferences with multi-track sessions, keynotes, exhibits and of course social activities.  Stay tuned for details in the coming months.

    Is this an ambitious agenda? You bet it is.  But if you aren’t going to go big, you might as well stay home.  We are being helped by some people who know how to succeed.  We will be announcing shortly some of the people who are behind devopsy.kinsta.cloud and who will be helping out.  I am proud to call these people my friends and am honored that they are lending a hand. One person I want to mention now though is my devopsy.kinsta.cloud  co-founder, Martin Logan.  When I first started talking about the idea of a DevOps community site I registered a bunch of domains, but knew that devopsy.kinsta.cloud would be the best domain name.  I found Martin as owning the domain and reached out to see if he would perhaps sell it for a reasonable sum.  A few hours later we were partners!  Martin is a real, live DevOps dude.  He understands what DevOps is about. None of this is possible without him.

    For now take a look around our site. Be sure to sign up for our newsletter in the top right column.  The site look and feel will be changing daily as we continue to iterate in the DevOps way.  Most of all there will always be fresh content.  We should be averaging about 100+ new content articles a month.  There will be something for everyone!

    You can reach out to me anytime with comments, suggestions, complaints or questions at ashimmy@devops.com.

    Thanks for stopping by and enjoy!