Working technology for a political campaign involves the shortest timelines, tightest deadlines, and highest stakes you will likely ever encounter in a technology career. Come hear a tale of two political campaigns - a state measure campaign and a presidential campaign - and the application of both DevOps technologies and culture to move fast, pivot quickly, and hopefully win. One of the key challenges of politics - as well as DevOps in general - is harnessing automation without losing the critical human touch which moves hearts and changes minds. Learn how to find the line where too much automation (yes, there is such a thing) is counterproductive and you need to pull back to maintain a personal connection with voters, customers, employees, and more. You will also walk away knowing how to take the lessons and experience learned to future campaigns and projects - especially when your candidate, product, etc. does not end up winning. There is value - sometimes more value - in a loss as well as a win. Learn how to take what you can, iterate, and refine it for a future application.

1. DevOps in Politics
DevOpsDays Seattle 2017
@nellshamrell

2. What does devops have
to do with politics?

3. What does politics have
to do with devops?

4. @nellshamrellDevOps in Politics
–Original Source Unknown
“Every company is a
software company”

5. Every political campaign
is a software company

6. @nellshamrellDevOps in Politics
A political campaign involves shipping
software…

7. @nellshamrellDevOps in Politics
• On the tightest budgets
A political campaign involves shipping
software…

8. @nellshamrellDevOps in Politics
• On the tightest budgets
• In the shortest time frames
A political campaign involves shipping
software…

9. @nellshamrellDevOps in Politics
• On the tightest budgets
• In the shortest time frames
• With the highest stakes imaginable
A political campaign involves shipping
software…

10. Technology moves on
in between elections…

11. …but principles applied
to the technology
remain the same

12. @nellshamrellDevOps in Politics
–Effective DevOps
“Many people think about devops
as specific tools like Chef or Docker,
but tools alone are not devops…”

13. @nellshamrellDevOps in Politics
–Effective DevOps
“…What makes tools “devops” is
the manner of their use, not
fundamental characteristics of the
tools themselves."”

14. @nellshamrellDevOps in Politics
What if I don’t like politics?

15. @nellshamrellDevOps in Politics
• “I’m just not a political person.”
What if I don’t like politics?

16. @nellshamrellDevOps in Politics
• “I’m just not a political person.”
• “All politicians are the same.”
What if I don’t like politics?

17. @nellshamrellDevOps in Politics
• “I’m just not a political person.”
• “All politicians are the same.”
• “I refuse to choose the lesser of two
evils”
What if I don’t like politics?

18. Politics affects you
whether you are
involved or not

19. @nellshamrellDevOps in Politics
• Sr. Software Engineer at Chef
• Technical volunteer with multiple campaigns
• @nellshamrell
Nell Shamrell-Harrington

20. Every political campaign
is a software company

21. Technical implementations
are useless if they solve
the wrong problem

22. Success of a business
is measured in money

23. Success of a campaign
is measured in votes

24. @nellshamrellDevOps in Politics
Vote = Heart

25. @nellshamrellDevOps in Politics
Vote = Heart + Mind

26. @nellshamrellDevOps in Politics
Vote = Heart + Mind + Motivation

27. Speed is critical

28. When you are first to reach a
voter, you control the narrative
(usually)

29. Accuracy is critical

30. The right automation
enables speed and
accuracy

31. Automation is very
helpful with large
volunteer forces

32. DevProgress

33. @nellshamrellDevOps in Politics

34. Technical volunteers
(especially remote
volunteers) have very
different workstations

35. @nellshamrellDevOps in Politics

36. @nellshamrellDevOps in Politics
User Workstation
Vagrant
Development
Environment
$ vagrant ssh

37. Code must be tested
easily and
consistently

38. @nellshamrellDevOps in Politics

39. @nellshamrellDevOps in Politics

40. The right automation
enables human connection
rather than replacing it

41. @nellshamrellDevOps in Politics
Vote = Heart + Mind + Motivation

42. Robocalls do not
make personal
connections

43. Personal connections are
what capture hearts,
minds, and motivate voters

44. Referendum 74

45. Being right is
irrelevant when you
don’t have the votes

46. Let go of being right
and meet people
where they are

47. Hearts and minds
change through
personal connections

48. Human capital

49. The purpose of automation
is to free up human capital
to do what it does best

50. In the end, it all comes
down to election day

51. Winning an election is
one of the highest highs
you will ever experience

52. Losing an election is
devastating

53. A loss still contains
a lot of value

54. If you give up after a
loss in politics, you are
in the wrong business

55. If you give up after a
loss in devops, you are
in the wrong business

56. There will always
be both successes
and failures

57. Cynicism is
the easy path

58. Cynicism and ambivalence
are the greatest weapons
against progress

59. Carrying forward what
you learned is harder,
but more effective

60. @nellshamrellDevOps in Politics

61. What does devops have
to do with politics?

62. Everything

63. Thank You

64. @nellshamrellDevOps in Politics
• Sr. Software Engineer at Chef
• Technical volunteer with multiple campaigns
• @nellshamrell
Nell Shamrell-Harrington