DevOps is an approach to streamline collaboration between development and operations teams. It focuses on automating processes, measuring outcomes, and facilitating communication across teams from the start of a project. Key aspects of DevOps include: breaking down silos between dev and ops; developing infrastructure as code; continuous integration, testing, and deployment; monitoring systems holistically; and encouraging collaboration, learning from failures, and rapid iteration. The overall goal is to continually improve delivery of value to end users.

1. What is DevOps?
WE HEAR A LOT ABOUT IT, BUT ARE WE SURE WE ALL REALLY
UNDERSTAND WHAT IT’S ABOUT?

2. The name may be
new(ish), but the
problems aren’t
BELIEVE IT OR NOT, WE CAN’T SOLVE THEM ALL YET, EVEN THOUGH
WE’VE GOT A NEW LABEL FOR OUR APPROACH!

4. DevOps isn’t a job role
YOU CAN’T DO THIS BY EMPLOYING A DEVOPS ENGINEER OR
MAKING A TEAM COMBINING DEVS AND OPS.

5. Not one size fits all
NO STRICT RULES AND NO BEST PRACTICE FOR A SET OF TOOLS TO
USE.

6. CAMS
CULTURE. AUTOMATION. MEASUREMENT. SHARING.

7. Involve all the
stakeholders
PROTIP: FOR MANY PROJECTS THAT’LL INCLUDE MOST SECTIONS OF
THE BUSINESS, AND YOU NEED THEIR BUY-IN.

8. Work together from day
one
IF OPS PEOPLE AREN’T INVOLVED UNTIL DEVS ARE READY TO
DEPLOY, YOU’RE ASKING FOR TROUBLE.

9. Get everyone talking about…
What is the scale of the system?
How secure does it need to be?
When does the business need it deployed?
What does success look like and how do you monitor?
Requirements for backups and high availability.
Futures. What is the roadmap for upgrades likely to look like?
Support load. Include your helpdesk.

10. Focus on entire systems
NOT SILOS OR SPECIFIC WORK CENTRES. TRY TO INCREASE ENTIRE
SYSTEM FLOW. NEVER PASS KNOWN DEFECTS DOWNSTREAM.
(THE FIRST WAY)

11. Practice makes perfect
IF YOU’RE STRUGGLING TO DO DEPLOYMENTS, TRY DOING THEM
MORE FREQUENTLY, NOT LESS.

12. You don’t have to do 10
releases a day
ALTHOUGH DEVOPS SHOULD REDUCE THE COST AND RISK OF DOING
SO, AND YOU GET CUSTOMER FEEDBACK QUICKER.

13. Reduce WIP and time to
value
IDENTIFY BOTTLENECKS AND RUTHLESSLY REMOVE THEM.

14. Automate all that you
can
MAKE EVERYTHING REPRODUCIBLE – SUCCESS AND FAILURE.

15. Tools can help
BUT DON’T LET A PARTICULAR TOOL LEAD YOU DOWN A PATH IF IT’S
NOT RIGHT.

16. Use tooling across Dev & Ops for…
Version control.
Automating builds and deployment.
Tracking bugs.
Configuring consistent infrastructure platform across tiers.
Continuous integration.
Integrated testing.

17. Develop code and
config hand in hand
…BUT KEEP THEM SEPARATE. INFRASTRUCTURE AS CODE.

18. Avoid configuration in a
GUI
EVEN WITH A GOOD RUNBOOK, IF YOU RELY ON PEOPLE DOING
THINGS MANUALLY THEY WILL MAKE MISTAKES.

19. Feedback loops for
everything
MAKE SUCCESS/FAILURE OF EVERY FUNCTION VISIBLE TO EVERYONE.
RAPID ITERATION SHORTENS AND AMPLIFIES FEEDBACK LOOPS.
(THE SECOND WAY)

20. Test continuously
DON’T MAKE TESTING A PHASE THAT YOU PASS THROUGH AND SIGN
OFF AS DONE.

21. Troubleshoot in the
open
USE COLLABORATIVE TOOLS, SUCH AS IM, AND BE VERBOSE AS YOU
WORK ON PROBLEMS. GOAL: MINIMIZE MTTR.

22. Experiment continually
TAKE RISKS. FAIL QUICKLY. LEARN FROM FAILURES AND IMPROVE
RESILIENCE OF THE SYSTEM. REWARD RISK TAKING.
(THE THIRD WAY)

23. Are your improvements
really improvements?
SOMETHING MAY BE FASTER/BETTER/MORE SECURE, BUT IS IT
REALLY ADVANCING THE GOAL?

24. To DevOps, or not to
DevOps
WEB/MOBILE APPS? CLOUD BASED? MISSION CRITICAL? LIFE
CRITICAL?

25. So what is DevOps
really?
ESSENTIALLY IT’S JUST ABOUT STREAMLINING AND CONTINUALLY
IMPROVING FLOW OF THE VALUE STREAM