Methods applied in IT operations @ Adform in 2015-2016. Video recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FVJcY5xzgvw

1. AGILITY IN IT OPERATIONS
Tomas Kazragis

2. AGILITY
According to Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agility):
Agility or nimbleness is the ability to change the body's position efficiently,
and requires the integration of isolated movement skills using a
combination of balance, coordination, speed, reflexes, strength, and
endurance.

3. AD WHAT..?
digital advertising solution -> we don’t draw
banners, we build software based on artificial
intelligence to accommodate:
campaign planning
ad serving
optimization
analytics & reports
technologies and services are used by:
more than 21,000 advertisers
1,600 agencies
800 of the world's leading publishers

4. ABOUT ME
1983-2005 looking for fun challenges
2005-2007 sales domain @ Skaidula – family
business
2007-2011 service delivery @ Baltic Data Center /
TEO – very customer focused company / a
representative of customer
2011-2014 leadership @ Rimi Baltic – large
enterprise with nearly invisible part in Baltic
countries
since 2014 leadership @ Adform – modern ad
tech company, aka ‘unicorn’

5. LANDSCAPE OF OUR CHALLENGES

6. HIGH LOAD
1.100.000.000 impressions served and registered per day
6 data centers
100 ms window for request processing
30.000.000.000 daily transactions
1 PB data storage
up to 1.500.000 queries per second
300.000.000 events registered per day
7.000.000 clicks registered per day

7. LANDSCAPE OF OUR CHALLENGES

8. BROAD TECH STACK

9. LANDSCAPE OF OUR CHALLENGES

10. DEPENDENCIES

11. LANDSCAPE OF OUR CHALLENGES

12. EXPONENTIAL GROWTH
770

13. LANDSCAPE OF OUR CHALLENGES

14. GEO DISTRIBUTED TEAMS

15. LANDSCAPE OF OUR CHALLENGES

16. COOPERATION

17. LANDSCAPE OF OUR CHALLENGES

18. MAGIC CURES

19. COOPERATION
“Never thought that it’s so complicated”
Everyone contributes instead of controlling & reporting
You build it – you own it
Let’s sit together
It’s pride to help
I like to code
NO for brilliant jerks

20. GO WITH THE FLOW
Learn to decompose “items”
Focus…
Stand-ups are not for reporting
Pending / blocked stories are pilling up
When can I say that done is done

21. IF THEY DON'T KNOW, THEY CAN'T HURT ME
Public monitoring dashboards
Publicly accessible assets management
database
Service level commitments and KPI’s
Public commenting of new solutions
before going live
No access limitations for roadmaps,
backlogs, service documentations, post
mortem reports, etc…

22. EVERYONE'S BUSINESS = NO ONES BUSINESS
Help to see vulnerabilities
Awareness is important
Don’t report, instead help to
secure ecosystem
Organize trainings with interesting
speakers
Get to a point where “your
customers” want to come by

23. WE'RE NOT NEEDED ANYMORE…, OR SELF-SERVICE
MIRACLE

24. RELEASE MANAGEMENT: DREAM

25. DEV VS OPS

26. RELEASE MANAGEMENT: CONSEQUENCES

27. RELEASE MANAGEMENT: SOLUTION

28. ACCESS RIGHTS MANAGEMENT
Previously Now

29. AUTOMATED SERVER DELIVERY

30. CENTRALIZE -> DECENTRALIZE -> CENTRALIZE ->
DECENTRALIZE -> …

31. ALWAYS LOOK FOR A ROLE MODEL
Within Adform – “I want to become like you…”
Outside the company – “How are you doing this?”

32. BUT…
But don’t be blind Copy Cat
Best of what You see might become World-famous, but not in exactly
great context:

33. CHANGING PERSPECTIVE
Instead of wondering:
How big is big?
Can I buy?
Can I refactor?
What can I expect from tomorrow?
Do I have a mandate?
Go and ask!
Try your customer’s shoes

34. ENJOY FREEDOM
Use an existing service or create new one
Learn new things – books, conferences
Try new experiences – internships, mentoring
Innovate
Own what you build
Team self organization

35. CHAOS MONKEY
Be brave enough to challenge your own
work
Don’t stuck in comfort zone swamp
System improvement during disaster
“resilient” vs “antifragile”

36. WITH GREAT POWER COMES GREAT RESPONSIBILITY
Constantly improve the way we work
Share and gain feedback
Balance between proficiency and
learning
Commitment
Share knowledge

37. HOW WONDERLAND WITH RAINBOW-FARTING
PONIES AND UNICORNS LOOKS LIKE…

38. We’re hiring, peek at http://join.adform.com/