Review, "The New Automation Mindset" (Wiley, 2023)

A key driver in successful DevOps implementation is reducing toil and repetitive work, and one key to those solutions involves implementing automation.? In the new book, “The New Automation Mindset” ( Wiley , 2023) by Vijay Tella , Scott Brinker , and Massimo Pezzini , the authors examine strategic changes possible if you think automation first.? The book has four sections: an automation mindset, architectural approaches, a use case review, and some implementation suggestions.? Each section includes great use cases, break-outs for technical terms, and a lot of pictures.? The book takes a more strategic look, so I recommend it for those looking to move into automation spaces rather than those already heavily involved.?

The first section identifies the three mindsets necessary for automation: process, growth, and scale. Process is systems engineering, scale is the ability to grow, and growth is preparing for change. These elements are tied in Nassem Taleb’s Antifragile concept, one of my favorite theoretical constructions. If you are unfamiliar, antifragile refers to resilient structures, those that grow upon response to stress rather than simply changing. The concept underpins much of the DevOps mindset.???

These concepts expand through the second section by defining the three concepts required within those mindsets: orchestration, plasticity, and democratization.? If you’ve done any container development, you are familiar with orchestration using event-driven workflows to create a stable system.? While orchestration creates flow, plasticity demonstrates feedback and continuous improvement with a capacity to change in response to external behavior.? This means new owners, changing technology, or adaptive processes for the business.? Finally, democratization speaks to flat businesses, the ability for anyone with the organization to generate valuable inputs.??

Finally, the book starts exploring how automation can help.? While there are some use cases early on, these are explored much more thoroughly in the third section.? Talla divides automation into five key areas: customer experience, user experience, supply, front office, and back office.? Each section chapter discusses a particular approach and introduces two to four use cases demonstrating solutions.? The chapters all finish with an inset detailing the noted issues from the use cases, and a more generic expansion.

The last section contains numerous architectural diagrams for where automation might work in one’s organization.? The diagrams are generic, speaking more to general capabilities than a specific implementation.? For example, one of the end-to-end diagrams illustrates connecting Customer Relationship Management (CRM) with Salesforce to Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP).? That’s a great idea, but if you have ever used either of those tools, there is a great deal of work needed for that integration to create local automation and wind up with value over and above software costs.

My main objection is the book tries to reach a little too far and falls short.? The first two sections were great from a strategy perspective but the operational and tactical elements don’t quite reach the bar.? As an automation person, when I see automation case studies, I am interested in the application, costs, and timelines.? As a strategist, I want to know what happened and what specific steps were required to reach those successes.? For example, in the customer experience chapter, the use-case addresses a frictionless, automated check-in for a car rental company. The example includes an initial check, database reference, and final rental, suggesting times can be reduced from hours to seconds.? The metrics demonstrating the change, implementation cost, and sales shifts based on the new model are crucial to this.? To continue the overall strategic approach, these questions are still critical for business decision-makers.

Overall, this was an excellent generic review for business leaders concerned with automation.? “The New Automation Mindset” summarizes some key automation characteristics, expands into the cultural mindset, and offers some generic options for automation.? Chances are, if you are picking up the book, you have already thought about some of those solution cases, which again makes the first half more valuable than the back.? Recommend the book to business professionals looking to better understand automation concepts.

Dr. Mark Peters is a Senior Director of Solutions Architecture (Raft), responsible for integrating theoretical and physical options into tailored customer deliveries. Self-styled DevOps junkie, he recently published “Confident DevOps” (2024, Kogan Page. He served 22 years as a US Air Force Intelligence officer on everything from fighters and drones to satellites.? A cybersecurity expert, he holds multiple certifications, a Ph.D. in Information Technology (Capella), and a Strategic Security Doctorate (Henley-Putnam). He authored "Cashing in on Cyberpower" analyzing a decade of cyber-attacks and has a forthcoming book,? “Mastering Enterprise Platform Engineering” (Packt, Sep-2024). ? A frequent reviewer for industry-leading books, he has written 100+ reviews and articles.