In Episode 17 and Episode 18 of The Idealcast, I was blown away by Dr. Ron Westrum's notion of Technological Maestros, a definition and list of characteristics for a leader that resonates deeply with me. First, let's look at Dr. Westrum's definition of a technological maestro. This is a term that is used in history of technology a lot. First of all, you're dealing with somebody who has very high energy, that's critical. The second thing is they know what questions to ask. The third thing is … [Read more...]
Leading through Better Value Sooner Safer Happier
Gene Kim Interviews Jonathan Smart, author of Sooner Safer Happier (Part 1) Gene Kim: Why Better Value Sooner Safer Happier? What about those five words is so revolutionary. Jonathan Smart: The world of work has fundamentally changed. We are living through a tipping point in the latest of a succession of technology-led revolutions, which have a socio-economic impact. We’ve gone from the Age of Oil and Mass Production to the Age of Digital. Like going from the Stone Age to the Bronze Age, we … [Read more...]
How to Embed More of the Business Outside IT with DevOps Principles
A series of advice blogs from DevOps Enterprise Summit 2020 presenters. We all know that for DevOps to truly be as successful as it can be, it's best to get the business on board. But how do you translate something from IT to the rest of the business? Top experts from DevOps Enterprise Summit are here to help. “Organizations who develop software need to realize the truth that 'Business' and 'IT' are the same thing. You'd never build a car with a hard separation between marketing, design, and … [Read more...]
Creating Small Successes to Prove DevOps Works
A series of advice blogs from DevOps Enterprise Summit 2020 presenters. We've all heard that the key to DevOps is small successes that you build upon. But what do those small successes actually look like? How do you start? Top experts from DevOps Enterprise Summit are here to weigh in. “Pick a team. Automate the build and deploy process with no human touches between commit and deploy. That one step removes significant variability and defect generation. Stabilize your quality signal, even if it … [Read more...]
How to Convince Reluctant Developers to Embrace DevOps
A series of advice blogs from DevOps Enterprise Summit 2020 presenters. We've all met that colleague. The one who just won't get behind DevOps. No matter their reasons, here's some great advice on what to say to those reluctant colleagues from top experts from DevOps Enterprise Summit. “We say 'Deploy more. Sleep better.' This of course assumes the developer has quality ownership. If the developer can use Grenade Driven Development to hand off the pain of poor quality and is only responsible … [Read more...]
Understanding Why Organizations Behave the Way They Do: Top Lessons Learned from The Idealcast
In Gene Kim's continued quest to understand why organizations behave the way they do, he embarked on a journey of learning this last year, and he invited us all along with him. The Idealcast's first season saw some of the more influential leaders in tech talking about everything from the MIT beer game to feedback loops and how to structure architecture. As Season 1 comes to a close, we look back on the top lessons learned over 14 episodes. Digital Disruption and the Five Ideals DevOps and … [Read more...]
Benefits of a DevOps Mindset
A series of advice blogs from DevOps Enterprise Summit 2020 presenters. Sometimes, it's not easy to help a boss or colleague understand why and how DevOps can solve many or your problems. But these experts from the DevOps Enterprise Summit boil it down to its simplest and most powerful for you. “We are designing an entire system of delivery, from idea to end user, around the truth that every requirement is wrong, we've misunderstood it, and/or it will have changed by the time we can deliver a … [Read more...]
BVSSH Principles
In Sooner Safer Happier: Antipatterns and Patterns for Business Agility by Jonathan Smart, Zsolt Berend, Myles Ogilvie, and Simon Rohrer, each chapter's essence is distilled into guiding principles, to guide behavior and the millions of decisions that we make every day. For example, “Invite over Inflict” and “One Size Does Not Fit All.” They apply across contexts. Specific practices emerge by applying the principles to a unique context and by using coaching and experimentation, … [Read more...]
Advice on Getting Teams to Accept Change
A series of advice blogs from DevOps Enterprise Summit 2020 presenters. Change is always hard. And harder for some than others. In this post, we continue our series of advice blogs from DevOps Enterprise Summit 2020 presenters. What is your top advice for getting teams to accept change? "Bring them information on how it makes their lives better. Have engineers who've worked this way evangelize this way of working. Those of us who've been on this journey for a while will not go back to … [Read more...]
Ways of Working: How We Got Here
In my previous post A Sense of Urgency, I set the stage for what is at risk today. Now, in order to understand how to change, it is critical that we first understand how we got here. How we came to have the traditional ways of working that are in place in most large organizations today. Previous Ways of Working Were Optimized for Repetitive Labor One of the leaders of the Efficiency Movement, Frederick Winslow Taylor, did much to improve industrial processes. Working first as a machinist and … [Read more...]
