DevOps - How to get technical buy in

Getting Technical Buy-In
Martin Alfke - example42 GmbH

Getting Technical Buy-In DevOpsPro Moscow 2019 - Martin Alfke © example42 GmbH

Introduction

Learning new tech is fun
Head to conferences, meetups,
… and learn about new concepts,
ideas, solutions.
Exchange knowledge is key
concept of conferences and
DevOps practice.
From IRC: “Don’t ask to ask, just
ask.”
Introduction
Image: tatlin

Meeting with your manager:
“I have seen a great solution that
will help us solving the Kernel
Scheduler issue which we have
when running more than one in-
memory database in parallel
within our cluster when we run
new deployments of the NodeJS
microservices. I want to
implement that.”
Introduction
Image: tatlin

What’s wrong?
Your manager maybe does not
know about a Linux Scheduler or
in-memory databases. (Yes, he
should, but … reality sometimes
differs!)
Introduction
Image: tatlin

What’s wrong?
Managers think different:
What is the expected TTM?
When do we receive ROI?
Does this increase CAPEX or
OPEX?
Introduction
Image: tatlin

What’s wrong?
Good Managers say different:
How long does the team need to
understand the new tech? (TTM)
Who will be able to support us?
(CAPEX/OPEX)
When will be able to successful
use it? (ROI)
Introduction
Image: tatlin

What’s wrong?
Tech people have to learn
management compatible wording.
Management must concentrate on
their job.
Consultants have to learn how to
really help.
Introduction
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DevOps KATA

DevOps CAMS
Culture
Automation
Measurement
Sharing
Damon Edwards and John Willis - DevOpsDays Mountain View 2010
Image: tatlin

DevOps KATA
Kultura
Automation
Transparency
Agility
Image: tatlin

DevOps KATA
Kultura:
How do we deal with other
people?
Honest, trustful environment.
Listen, ask, understand.
Never blame or talk negative.
Feedback, Feedback, Feedback
Image: tatlin

DevOps KATA
Kultura:
Collaborative approach.
Together not enemies.
Everybody is a customer.
Image: tatlin

DevOps KATA
Kultura:
Product is customer for Dev
Dev is customer for Ops
Sec is customer for all
Finance is customer for all
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DevOps KATA
Automation
“Stop soul crushing work” -
Yvonne Wassenaar – CEO Puppet
2019
No manual, boring repetitive work.
Image: tatlin

DevOps KATA
Automation
In the past:
“Never touch a running system”
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DevOps KATA
Automation
In the past:
“Never touch a running system”
Now:
“Never run a touchy system”
Image: tatlin

DevOps KATA
Transparency
Provide data to everybody and
build dashboards
Ops wants to know platform health
Dev wants to know App timings
Marketing wants to know how
campaign went
Finance wants to know cash burn
rate
Image: tatlin

DevOps KATA
Transparency
Never hide!
Give everybody read access.
Encrypt sensitive information.
What you hide is not visible.
Image: tatlin

DevOps KATA
Agility
Waterfall projects can have a use
case. But not in a flexible, fast
changing environment.
6 months planning
6 months developing
6 months optimizing and fixing :-(
Image: tatlin

DevOps KATA
Agility
“Why have our customer moved to
company B?”
Because company B was
deploying feature by feature.
Image: tatlin

DevOps KATA
Agility
Build a milestone plan for PoC
Make a grooming on PoC duration
and first outcome
Use agile boards. Everything new
comes into backlog
Never allow C-Level override!
Image: tatlin

DevOps KATA
KATA – from Wikipedia:
“Kata is a Japanese word ( 型 or
形 ) meaning literally ‘form’
referring to a detailed
choreographed pattern of
movements made to be practiced
alone, and also within groups and
in unison when training. It is
practiced in Japanese martial arts
as a way to memorize and perfect
the movements being executed.”
Image: tatlin

The meaning of Success

Managers view on success
Tech people view on success
Consultant view on success
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Managers view on success
Long term vision and strategy
IPP and bonuses are important
Prevent disruptive changes
Ensure stability and availability
Image: tatlin

Manager has success when team
has success.
DevOps KATA: guide, coach, shield
the team
Remove obstacles
Image: tatlin

Tech people view on success
Stability and features are
important
Reduce time spent on unplanned
work like incidents, clean-up
Image: tatlin

Why consultants?
Have you filled all open positions?
Do you have enough people for
work load?
Image: tatlin

Guide and Coach
Show best practice
Share knowledge
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How to start
Identify what you want to solve
Use wording the manager
understands
5 Minutes pitch
Explain benefit of DevOps KATA
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How to start
Manager refuses to head to
automation?
Head to CEO/board/shareholders
90 seconds pitch
Digital Transformation, Business
value and success
Image: tatlin

How to start
Manager allows work?
Agree on an amount of time to
analyze
Write a summary
Make an estimate for a PoC
Image: tatlin

How to start
Manager allows work?
Tool to difficult?
Head for support
Mailinglists, Meetings, Slack,
Consultants with proven
knowledge
Image: tatlin

Consultative Selling

Build trust
Share and show your expertise
Think positive
Customer success is top priority
Image: tatlin

Look for the local “hero” or
“champion”
Build a PoC, fast.
Never allow a PoC in production.
This would be “Pile of Crap”.
Half or one day of invest into
future.
Image: tatlin

You prove yourself to being a
valuable, honest partner, bringing
success to organizations and
business.
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K.I.S.S
“Simple can be harder than complex:
You have to work hard to get your thinking clean to
make it simple.
But it's worth it in the end because once you get there,
you can move mountains.”
Steve Jobs

Conclusion
 Learn your managers
vocabulary
 Follow the DevOps KATA
 Create vision for future
Image: tatlin

Conclusion
 Identify what the
company/organization needs
 Enable the champion/hero to
“sell” a solution to management
 Establish a positive
communication environment
Image: tatlin

Conclusion
“I used to think that top environmental problems were biodiversity loss,
ecosystem collapse and climate change. I thought that thirty years of
good science could address these problems. I was wrong.
The top environmental problems are selfishness, greed and apathy, and
to deal with these we need a cultural and spiritual transformation.
And we scientists don’t know how to do that.”
Gus Speth, March 2016

DevOps - How to get technical buy in

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