When someone hears the term "DevOps", they often think of a branch of software engineering that sounds complex and very technical, and that only concerns system engineers. How naive people can be sometimes.
DevOps is much more than a fancy-sounding job title; it is a culture, a work philosophy that every company wanting to be competitive in today's market should have. This is because DevOps has a very precise philosophy: "Automate everything that can be automated and measure everything that can be measured."
I have seen hundreds of times people, teams, departments, and even companies fall into overengineering, creating unnecessary processes and procedures, generating bureaucracy and paperwork that add no value to the product or service being offered. This is, absolutely, the death of productivity and efficiency.
Imagine (or not, if this has happened to you) that you need to book a meeting room. The first thing they'll ask you to do is fill out a form, then send it to your boss for approval, then the boss sends it to HR for their approval, then HR manually checks a calendar of rooms and confirms if the room is available, then you get a confirmation email, and finally, you go to the room to book it physically. All of this must be notified to everyone involved.
After so much bureaucratic process, guess what happened: someone in HR forgot to book the room and, when you arrived, it was occupied by another meeting.
This is a clear example of overengineering and bureaucracy that adds no value to the process of booking a room. If an automated system had been implemented for booking rooms, all this bureaucracy would have been avoided, saving time and effort for everyone involved. Also, a motto to remember when talking about DevOps is:
"If something can go wrong, it will go wrong" - Murphy's Law
It's inevitable, and you may think it's a bit pessimistic, but it's reality. Humans are prone to making mistakes, no matter how careful they are. That's why it's important to automate everything that can be automated and measure everything that can be measured, to minimize the human factor in a company's processes and procedures. It's important to note that automation is not just for technical processes, but also for administrative and business processes. The DevOps culture should permeate the entire company, from the CEO to the last employee. Stop thinking it's something that only concerns system engineers and start thinking about how you can implement the DevOps culture in your company to be more efficient and competitive in today's market.
Now that it's clear that DevOps is a culture that should permeate the entire company, it's important to understand how to implement it. Here are some steps to implement the DevOps culture in a company:
- Automate everything that can be automated: Identify the processes and procedures that can be automated and look for tools and technologies to do so. This includes everything from technical processes to administrative and business processes. (People usually think that a certain process can't be automated, but if you think a bit, there's always a way, so don't give up so easily, think outside the box).
- Measure everything that can be measured: Identify key performance indicators (KPIs) that can be measured and set up monitoring and reporting systems to do so (it doesn't have to be something extremely complex, it can even be with notes). This allows you to identify bottlenecks and areas for improvement in the company's processes and procedures.
- Encourage collaboration and communication between teams: Break down silos between teams and encourage collaboration and communication among them. This allows for a better understanding of the company's processes and procedures and makes it easier to identify areas for improvement. Just because something is automated doesn't mean communication between teams is lost; on the contrary, it should be more fluid and problem detection should be faster.
- Foster a culture of continuous improvement: Create an environment that encourages continuous improvement and innovation. This includes everything from training and skill development to implementing new technologies and tools. Don't get stuck with what you already know; there's always something new to learn and improve. Especially in the automation process, there are always new tools and technologies that can make work easier.
- Committed leadership: It's essential that company leadership is committed to implementing the DevOps culture. This includes everything from allocating resources to communicating the company's vision and objectives. If leadership is not committed, it's very likely that the implementation of the DevOps culture will fail. It must be a mindset change throughout the company, and this is only achieved with committed and visionary leadership. If someone is not committed, it's better they are not in the company (it's a tough process, but many companies have failed by trying to keep those who don't want to change, and this only generates friction and resistance where change is needed).
With these steps, it may be possible to implement the DevOps culture in a company and be more efficient, but following a few steps is not everything: it's a continuous process that requires commitment and dedication from the entire company. That's why I want to dedicate a special section to the hardest part of this whole process: The mindset change.
Understand that implementing the DevOps culture in a company is not just a change of processes and procedures, it's a radical change of mindset. Many times, people and teams are used to working a certain way and may resist this change, especially those who have survived various company transformations, and it's understandable: change is scary, but it's necessary to be competitive in today's market. Some may think they will lose power, their job, or become obsolete, and that's understandable, but it's important to communicate that implementing the DevOps culture is not about eliminating jobs, but about making them more efficient and productive. It's important to communicate that automation is not to eliminate jobs, but to eliminate repetitive and tedious tasks that add no value to the product or service being offered.
In the end, what most companies want is to deliver a product, and many employees need to start understanding that what gives value to the company is the product or service being offered, not the processes and procedures used to do so. Many employees believe that by doing many things they are being productive, but just because you do a lot doesn't mean you're being productive; if those things don't add value to the product or service being offered, then they're not productive. So, you must change the mindset to focus on the product or service being offered, not the processes and procedures used to do so. Employees will no longer be tied to repetitive and tedious tasks, but will be focused on delivering a quality product or service, being much happier (due to less work) and more productive.
Don't feel bad or be afraid of the resistance to change that may exist in your company. It's normal, and it's part of the process. Many other companies have experienced this resistance to change. A clear case was Nokia, they had a very entrenched culture and established processes, and when they tried to implement the DevOps culture, there was too much resistance, different departments fought each other for power, and decisions weren't made. In the end, the company couldn't adapt to change and was brutally overtaken by the competition. Nokia is the clear example that it didn't fall because of its technology, it fell because of its culture and resistance to change.
"It is not the strongest species that survives, nor the most intelligent, but the one that best responds to change" - Charles Darwin
Thank you for reading this far. I hope this article has been useful and has given you a new perspective on implementing the DevOps culture in a company, whether you are in a company that wants to implement it, or in a company that has already implemented it and wants to improve it. Remember that implementing the DevOps culture is a continuous process that requires commitment and dedication from the entire company, but the benefits are enormous, from improved efficiency and productivity to improved quality of the product or service being offered.
"Change is the only constant in life" - Heraclitus
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