What is DevOps and why should I use it?

There are so many definitions around what DevOps is or isn't.  One word that sums it all up:  AUTOMATION

DevOps in it's simplest form it's a cultural change that allows developers and operations staff to work together collaboratively to achieve various outcomes, over the traditional IT delivery model.  The key ones include:

1. Dramatically improves the quality of code.
2. Code is released more frequently, moving a yearly or monthly cadence to weekly or daily.
3. Testing and the promotion of code to production is highly automated.
4. High-perfomers are 96 times faster than their peers to resolve defects, outages or incidents.

We can then extend this concept to a much wider set of stakeholders, to show how this value permeates throughout the organisation.  So when we think of developers, we should also consider architects, project managers and engineers, as they all work in the same 'design & build' phase.  And when we consider operations, we should extend this to service managers, security operations and service desk analysts.

The diagram below is taken from teh 2017 State of DevOps report, and shows some of the positive factors when a DevOps culture is harnessed:​​

​​​So now we can see that DevOps may have some value, how do we transform our culture?  

Well, for one it takes time, and two, there are a number of key principles that I'd suggest focusing on, to drive this cultural change:

• Allow your staff to fail, but fail fast.  This means empowering them to innovative, whilst providing them safeguards if things don't work out.
• Consider training in Agile methodologies, such as SCRUM or Extreme Programming.
• Empower your staff to automate everything, through training, mentorship , encouragement and invest in new tools for them.
• Consider using cloud technologies in the early stages of a new project, this will reduce your CAPEX exposure and help build on the other points above.

All of the above concepts feed into each other, but I'm going to show you how I started my DevOps journey.  

The key is to start with a small project, and measure the success.  Not over 10 weeks, but say 2-4 weeks.  How is this possible?

1. Setup your project as a 2-4 week sprint, using a tool such as Atlassian Jira.   Consider what needs to be in the sprint, using the sprint backlog and decompose each task is to very small chunks.  Ideally in hourly chunks of 1,2,4 or 8 hours.  If the tasks are bigger, set them up in 1 or 2 days.  If tasks exceed 2 days, consider breaking them down into smaller piece.
2. Use the Burndown charts to show how the project in progressing.  Within 5 working days, you'll be able to predict the final end date for the project.  If you're running behind schedule you can make the decision to reduce scope and meet the timelines, or simply run over schedule and let your stakeholders know.  See the diagram below for an illustration of a Burndown Chart
3. At the end of the project, review lessons learnt through the sprint review and sprint retrospectives workshops and move any outstanding items into the product backlog.

​The next steps are to then work with your colleagues to start applying these Agile practices in day-to-day use.  By introducing the techniques into a small project, you're allowing staff to fail-fast and quickly learn how to suceed.  You're also exposing them to Agile practices, with informal on-the-job training.  You should also be seriously considering a cloud solution to reduce OPEX risk.
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So where from here?

It comes down to getting your supporters excited about these new methods and helping them understand the benefits to everyone.  This could include:

1. Investing in your talent pool through formal or informal training.
2. Starting other new projects using the same Agile practices, under a programme of work, complete with an architectural vision and a product backlog.
3. Formal or informal mentoring networks, preferably using a combination of outside-in and inside-in techniques, i.e. don't just confine personal growth strategies to people within your company, consider the outside-in.

Still not convinced?  

Have a look at these top three great resouces I can recommend looking at:

1. The State of Devops Report 2017, which provides a great wealth of information of the benefits of DevOps. itsmf.cz/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/2017-state-of-devops-report.pdf
2. This great series of training videos to get you started with SCRUM.  scrumtrainingseries.com/
3. And a very famous book called The Phoenix Project, which illustrates how powerful the DevOps culture is, told through the eyes of Bill, the overwhelmed VP of IT Operations.

Paul Colmer is a lead digital architect and cloud instructor for ALC training and consulting:  ​www.alctraining.com.au/courses/cloud-computing/