Devops - its not just about the frameworks, its about the People too!!

One common myth that I have been encountering whenever discussion on Devops comes up is - limiting it to Tools and Process or limiting it to developing a ‘Continuous Delivery Pipeline (CDP) process listed in SAFe (Scaled Agile Framework).

Devops Handbook Quotes ‘Imagine a world where product owners, Development, QA, IT Operations, and Infosec work together, not only to help each other, but also to ensure that the overall organization succeeds. By working toward a common goal, they enable the fast flow of planned work into production, while achieving world-class stability, reliability, availability, and security.’

In its vanilla terms DevOps is about?removing the barriers between traditionally?siloed teams, development, and operations. It is not something you buy as a tool or process or bringing in a separate team to accelerate development. It is a cultural change and is something the entire team must go thru by doing it themselves to be successful. To reap its desired outcomes ideally there should be culture change in People, Process and Technology . I am just adding a few aspects on People side that are ignored quite often while everyone is busy implementing Process & Technology aspects.

1.?????Empower with the right environment to be successful

The New normal demands excellence in Leadership beyond the achievement of objectives. COVID has made several people realize that there is a higher purpose to life and work. Hence the old normal of a Leader seen as someone driving the team towards a common aim will not suffice anymore.

During Planning phase of Devops: Leaders/SMEs need to be there to Lead. e.g.: ?for setting processes, policies, target, boundaries etc. ?Here leaders are responsible for setting the vision and employees are responsive to it during this phase.

During Implementation phase : Leaders should be there to Serve the team. Team should be given the responsibility to execute the Devops process and make relevant decisions without leaders micromanaging the team. And leaders should be responsive to team decision and their job is to listen and empower the team by enabling them to success

Rewards and Feedbacks should be given at the right moment, not after a quarter. Proper frameworks like 2W framework (What and So what) should be used for giving positive feedback and 3 W framework (What, So What, Now What) ?should be used for giving negative feedbacks.

Leaders need to understand the true meaning of Grace and decide to become a dispenser of Grace. Do not put the team under the bus if there is an escalation. If one person fails, it is the entire team that fails including the leader. Let me give you a very simple example : Let us say there is a team Member who is not able to cope up with all the changes happening in a Devops world. He is showing traits of a poor performer in spite of being a high performer in the past. ?You choose to invest time in that person, knowing that in fact what that person deserves is firing. Instead of doing that you decide to invest time in developing that person change that person around - then that is grace.

2.?????Team Rotations

Keeping a single team in place is the simplest thing to do from a managerial standpoint. No planning or creative?thinking needs to be conducted . It feels like the safest choice for the stakeholders. After all, why rock the boat?

A successful Devops team require more than great experts,?they need people to play complementary roles that reinforce each other .There are many good reasons to rotate team members,?but the most important one is individual energy. When you facilitate a swap, you do lose a bit of experience, but you replace it with new energy and excitement.?Not rotating roles creates a dependency towards so-called experts. When a team member performs the same role over years - we limit their potential to learn new things whereas rotation allows team members to experiment with new things and pick up new skills on the go. Rotation also has positive side effects like better documentation, better readable code, and less sense of being stuck.

3.?????Collaboration

There should be common forums where Learnings, Risks, impediments are discussed, and action items/feedback loops are maintained. Team members can be encouraged and rewarded to have minimum 2 skills : 1 primary and 1 secondary skill. This is an opportunity to cross train each other and eventually build comraderies among team members also. ?

Having Fun must be one of the priorities too. When your team enjoys the time they spend together,?they can become more engaged and happier at work.?So, teams can make it a practice to do Team engagement events , once every 2 weeks just like they do ‘Retrospectives’.

Yes , these all require effort from leadership/management to plan and conduct. Initially we will need to be intentional about it - later it will become a habit and part of the culture