DevOps Culture - CALMS Framework

To focus on delivering value to customers through rapid, reliable, and high-quality software delivery practices organizations should have an organizational culture that includes a set of practices, values, principles, and philosophies that guide an organization's approach to software development, IT operations, and team collaboration.

CALMS Framework

As a guidance, we can follow the CALMS framework which can be used as a reference to compare the maturity of our teams and reckon the state of teams for the transmuting change that goes with it to cater to business demands and this helps to lean towards faster through reliable ways of developing products.

Automation

Systems can be made reliable by eliminating repetitive manual work through automation. Engineers should have the vision to automate things that generate more value for customers in delivery time, cost, and quality.

Lean

Engineers should consider eliminating low-value activities and delivering quickly while being scrappy and agile. Failure is inevitable and what we can do is fail fast and visibly then become stronger and avoid those same disruptions in the future with an antifragile mindset.

Hydra, another mythical creature comes to mind as an example. Just recall the battle between Hercules and Hydra, where he realized that cutting one of the beast’s heads off, resulted in two new ones growing back. In just a few words, Hydra required chaos to achieve improvement and to be resilient.

Measurement

Establish metrics and KPIs to track the performance and effectiveness of your DevOps practices. Monitor key indicators such as deployment frequency, lead time, and mean time to recovery. Use data-driven insights to identify areas for improvement and make informed decisions.

Sharing

Promote knowledge sharing and collaboration across teams. Encourage the sharing of best practices, lessons learned, and success stories. Create platforms for cross-team communication and collaboration, such as communities of practice or regular knowledge-sharing sessions.

Culture

We need to build a company culture that encourages the above key values in terms of setting up an atmosphere that facilitates the above key elements.

By following the CALMS framework, we can build a strong foundation for a DevOps culture within the company, enabling us to deliver value to the clients faster, more reliably, and with higher quality.