I had the luck to end last year as speaker on an expert panel in IASA Spain’s latest session about ALM trends and challenges, where we spent the morning talking about, amazing ALM tools, DevOps, People and Emotions.

We all know about organizations where designers, developers, testers, operations, security and support work in isolation with minimal or no collaboration at all, having each team in its own functional silo, allowing people to ignore the consequences of their actions.

These organizations have trouble deploying software to production with the required speed and frequency. In fact the larger the system or product they try to build the slower they get.

How can organizations change so it’s possible to build and maintain software in such a way, that it can be promoted to production at any given time (Continuous Delivery)?

DevOps

Organizations must break down their silos and create cross-functional teams where people are aware and also held responsible for the consequences of their actions. That’s right: No more silo’s

To succeed it’s important to embrace the DevOps CAMS pillars:

  • Culture: professionals and managers must have the required competences and show the right behavior so the silo’s truly disappear.
  • Automation: Tools are an essential catalyzer in the process of breaking down the silos. For instance deployment automation all of a sudden means that development and operational tasks are mixed.
  • Metrics: Information is indispensable so the overall process can improve and also a very important piece to change the mindset of professionals and managers.
  • Sharing: Continuous feedback flow within these multidisciplinary or cross-functional teams is a need, thus is basic to share knowledge on requirements, development, test findings, operational issues, security concerns, etc…

DevOps is a cultural change that encourages, rewards and exposes people taking responsibility for what they do, and what is expected from them. — Ben Kepes

People

Make no mistake here. DevOps is not a movement just about a specific ALM or automation toolset or about creating a new isolated team. DevOps is about people communicating with each other, collaborating, changing their mindset so it’s possible to identify a set of common interests.

DevOps is not just about developers and operations. It’s about all the people who participate in creating a product or system and how they collaborate effectively involving all disciplines in an organization.

Everyone’s job is important; we all help in different ways. — Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood

Emotions

A deep organizational change like the one promoted by the DevOps movement cannot be achieved overnight. Therefore it’s important to keep people happy, engaged and motivated.

Embrace “The Winner Effect”, set goals one by one to let the cross-functional teams achieve success and therefore build confidence and trust, making them more focused and smarter.

He who smiles rather than rages is always the stronger. — Japanese proverb

This post was first published by SogetiLabs