The document outlines the principles and practices of DevOps, emphasizing its role in enhancing software delivery processes through cultural change, automation, and iterative improvements. Key takeaways include the importance of value stream analysis, generative organizational culture, and the measurement of four key metrics for assessing DevOps maturity. The document concludes with a reading list and practical recommendations for implementing DevOps effectively.

1. D E S I G N . D I S R U P T . R E P E A T .
Explain DevOps To
Me Like I’m Five:
DevOps for Managers
J A N U A R Y 1 3 , 2 0 2 2

2. Define and Design the Optimal Survey Experience​
At a DOD client
2009:
• Releasing every 6 months or so by team of 12+
• Freeze 2-4 weeks in advance
• Deploy Friday evening into Sunday evening
• Repair broken functionality Monday and Tuesday+
2014:
• Releasing every 2 weeks by 2 ½ people
• Soft freeze Thursday evening for Friday deploy
• Deploy Friday evening
• Business as usual on Monday
Biggest coordination issue: 72 hours for user messaging
Biggest time consumer: 3-6 hours for VM clones
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THE PROBLEM

3. Define and Design the Optimal Survey Experience​
Top 11 Things
You Need to
Know About
DevOps
“The goal of DevOps
is not just to increase the rate of change,
but to successfully deploy features
into production
without causing chaos
and disrupting other services,
while quickly detecting and correcting incidents
when they occur.”
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THE PROBLEM
Gene Kim
https://www.thinkhdi.com/~/media/HDICorp/Files/White-Papers/whtppr-1112-devops-kim.pdf

4. Define and Design the Optimal Survey Experience​
What worries
you?
What are your biggest worries about your software
delivery process?
If you have to push out a release with no notice, no
prep, and cut every corner imaginable:
• What do you think is most likely to go wrong?
• What corners don’t you dare cut?
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THE PROBLEM

5. What is DevOps?
Measuring DevOps
Value stream
“But it won’t work here.”
Wrap-up
@OtherDevOpsGene #CodeMash
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6. Define and Design the Optimal Survey Experience​
WHAT IS DEVOPS?
C.A.L.M.S.
Culture
Change to drive collaboration and communication
Automation
Take manual steps out of your value chain
Lean
Use lean principles for higher cycle frequency
Metrics
Measure everything and use data to refine cycles
Sharing
Share successful and unsuccessful experiences to
enable others to learn
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Developed by John Willis,
Damon Edwards, and
Jez Humble

7. Define and Design the Optimal Survey Experience​
WHAT IS DEVOPS?
Three Ways
1. Systems thinking
2. Amplify feedback loops
3. Culture of continual
experimentation
and learning
Ops
Dev
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8. What is DevOps?
Measuring DevOps
Value stream
“But it won’t work here.”
Wrap-up
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9. Define and Design the Optimal Survey Experience​
MEASURING DEVOPS
Four Key Metrics
Throughput
• Lead time
• Deployment frequency
Stability
• Change failure rate
• Time to restore service
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From 2021 DORA
Accelerate State of DevOps
Report
https://cloud.google.com/devops/state-of-devops

10. MEASURING DEVOPS
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https://cloud.google.com/devops/state-of-devops

11. Define and Design the Optimal Survey Experience​
MEASURING DEVOPS
Metrics,
not Goals
“People with targets and jobs
dependent upon meeting them will
probably meet the targets –
even if they have to destroy the
enterprise to do it.”
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W. Edwards Deming

12. Define and Design the Optimal Survey Experience​
MEASURING DEVOPS
Metrics,
not Goals
Goodhart’s Law
“When a measure becomes a target, it
ceases to be a good measure.”
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Charles Goodhart

13. What is DevOps?
Measuring DevOps
Value stream
“But it won’t work here.”
Wrap-up
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14. Define and Design the Optimal Survey Experience​
VALUE STREAM
Waste
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Matt Reeves, Steampunk

15. VALUE STREAM
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• List out steps from story to delivered
• This is the delivery pipeline
• Identify time for each task
• work time
• wait time
• Make sure each task provides feedback
• If it doesn’t, why do we need it?
• Eliminate waste (Muda Type II)
• Any steps not creating value for the customer
• Identify the biggest bottleneck
• Fix that, and then tackle the new biggest
Task
Wait
Work

16. What is DevOps?
Measuring DevOps
Value stream
“But it won’t work here.”
Wrap-up
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17. Define and Design the Optimal Survey Experience​
“BUT IT WON’T WORK HERE.”
Heavyweight
change approval
processes
“Change approval boards negatively
impact speed and stability.
Clearly understood processes for
change drive speed and stability, as well
as reductions in burnout.”
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From 2019 DORA
Accelerate State of DevOps
Report

18. Define and Design the Optimal Survey Experience​
“BUT IT WON’T WORK HERE.”
“Cloud”
On-demand self-service
Provision resources automatically,
without any human interaction
Broad network access
Widely available and can be accessed
through multiple clients
Resource pooling
Resources are pooled in a multi-tenant model
Rapid elasticity
Rapidly scale outward or inward with demand
Measured service
Usage is monitored, controlled, and reported
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National Institute of
Standards and Technology
(NIST) Definition
of Cloud Computing

19. “BUT IT WON”T WORK HERE.”
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Pathological
Power-oriented
“Because I said so.”
Low cooperation
Blame culture
Experimentation prohibited
Bureaucratic
Rule-oriented
“…or else.”
Modest cooperation
Failure punished
Experimentation discouraged
Generative
Performance-oriented
“What if we tried…”
High cooperation
Failure is learning
Experimentation encouraged
Organizational culture is the strongest predictor
of all organization outcomes.

20. Define and Design the Optimal Survey Experience​
“BUT IT WON’T WORK HERE.”
Resistance to
change
The most damaging phrase
in the language is
“We’ve always done it this way.”
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Admiral Grace Hopper

21. “BUT IT WON”T WORK HERE.”
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We’ve always done it this way.

22. What is DevOps?
Measuring DevOps
Value stream
“But it won’t work here.”
Wrap-up
@OtherDevOpsGene #CodeMash
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23. Define and Design the Optimal Survey Experience​
WRAP-UP
Putting this
into practice
“For organizations seeking guidance
on how to improve,
we point to the only real path forward:
Start with foundations, and then adopt
a continuous improvement mindset
by identifying your unique constraint
(or set of constraints).
Once those constraints no longer hold you back,
repeat the process.”
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From 2019 DORA
Accelerate State of DevOps
Report

24. Define and Design the Optimal Survey Experience​
WRAP-UP
Buzzword
compliance
• Immutable architecture (cattle, not pets)
• Infrastructure-as-code
• Continuous integration
• Continuous delivery
• Kubernetes
• Microservices
• Terraform + Ansible, Chef, Puppet
• Automated testing
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In descending
order of importance,
roughly
These are means to an end, not end goals themselves.

25. Define and Design the Optimal Survey Experience​
WRAP-UP
Key takeaways
• DevOps is a culture. Embrace the Three Ways.
1. Systems thinking
2. Amplify feedback loops
3. Culture of continual experimentation and
learning
• The Four Key Metrics are measures of DevOps
maturity, not goals.
• Use value stream analysis to understand your
process and find your biggest impediments.
• Strive for a generative organizational culture that
provides psychological safety.
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26. Define and Design the Optimal Survey Experience​
WRAP-UP
Reading list
The Phoenix Project: A Novel about IT, DevOps, and Helping
Your Business Win,
by Gene Kim, Kevin Behr, George Spafford.
ISBN-13: 978-0988262508
2021 Accelerate: State of DevOps Report,
DevOps Research and Assessment.
https://cloud.google.com/devops/state-of-devops
Learning to See: Value-Stream Mapping to Create Value and
Eliminate Muda,
by Mike Rother and John Shook.
ISBN-13: 978-0966784305
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27. Questions?
I’m presenting again today at
Keeping your Kubernetes Cluster Secure
3:30 PM - 4:30 PM
Sagewood / Zebrawood
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D E S I G N . D I S R U P T . R E P E A T .