The book "DevOps Philosophy. IT Management Art

Hi, Habrozhiteli! Finally, we have a book by Jennifer Davies and Catherine Daniels - DevOps Philosophy.

The agile IT principle has become the mantra of the digital age. With the growth of projects, the transition from monolithic applications to the microservice system, the increase and accumulation of products, there are questions that require a completely different approach. Now the DevOps methodology located at the intersection of the development and operational management is of the greatest interest.

DevOps is not just a set of techniques, it is a philosophy. Developers who are obsessed with users should pay attention to support and its requests. System administrators must report product problems and contribute to the improvement of the work process. But networking within the company is only the first step. To make the product simple and convenient, you will have to invest time and resources in its refinement. Configuration through the central service, implementation by simple copying, the absence of external dependencies, deliberate metrics instead of garbage in the logs are just some of the tasks that will have to be solved along the way.

Imagine such a scenario. A small web company began to face the following problems. The website of this company "slows down" and periodically "falls" in the event of an unexpected increase in the number of users. Employees are increasingly expressing dissatisfaction with the increase in labor costs required for the provision of services, as well as due to the need to develop and roll out the new functionality. There are barriers between globally distributed development teams caused by the use of different languages ​​and time zones. The number of mutual accusations caused by stress due to the growth of the site’s “falls” is growing. This leads to increased suspicion and reduced transparency in the interaction between groups of employees.
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Faced with similar problems, the organization’s management decides on the devops transformation. To implement this solution, several employees are hired to form a new devops group. The members of this group perform the duties of the call, that is, they are approached by members of the operational group in case of intractable problems. The members of the devops group are experts in their subject area and are better prepared to solve problems. But if the members of the operational group have neither the time nor the ability to acquire new skills, the same problems will arise again and again.

Sooner or later, members of the devops-group will get tired of playing the role of intermediaries between the development team and the operational team. Instead of removing the tension, such a “decision” of management will lead to an increase in misunderstanding, since none of the groups is involved in the planning, messaging, and error tracking processes implemented by members of the other group.

As a result, the management announces the failure of the idea with the formation of the devops-group and ceases to allocate time, money and effort in the development of the devops-group and the operational group. The members of these groups are beginning to be treated as incompetent idlers, who contribute to the "site downs" and only "get in the way" of developers who perform "real" work. It is quite natural that the members of these groups, unable to withstand the burden of accusations of incompetence, begin to leave the organization, making it even more difficult for them to fulfill their duties with the remaining employees.

The first acquaintance with devops

What is the cause of the problems in this situation? It seems that the introduction of "devops" was a good idea, but the creation of a devops-group led to negative consequences. What needs to be changed in order to achieve a significant improvement in the situation and a real troubleshooting? Throughout the book, you will see how you can perform effective transformations based on devops thinking.

Do not consider this book as a collection of indisputable recommendations for the implementation of the devops approach. We do not offer you devops out of the box, devops as a service, and do not tell you that you incorrectly implement devops solutions. In this book you will find a collection of ideas and approaches to improve collaboration between individuals, to achieve homogeneity at the level of the individual group and the organization as a whole, and to use tools at the company or organization level. You will also see how these concepts help organizations change and adapt when the need arises. Since each organization is unique, there is no single, universal approach for devops implementation. Existing common approaches should be applied in each organization in a different way. As a result, the quality of the software created in this organization is improved, as well as the efficiency of work is improved and the well-being of employees is increased.

Who is the book for?

This book is primarily intended for managers and ordinary employees who play the role of leaders and face problems in their organizations. Thanks to this book, they will be able to take specific real actions aimed at implementing or improving devops-culture in the work environment. Ordinary employees occupying various positions will find here practical suggestions that will help to ease the pain points by implementing effective recommendations.

The readers of this book play various professional roles, because devops is a professional and cultural movement that is focused on supporting repetitive efforts to open up access to organizational information, track relationships and eliminate misunderstandings between groups in an organization.

The book covers a wide range of skills and theoretical concepts of devops, including the basics of fundamental ideas and concepts. It is assumed that you are already familiar with the term “devops” and may even have a basic knowledge of the tools and processes used in this area.

We recommend that you abandon the rigidly defined and quickly formulated definitions and tune in to the perception of the principles of devops, which, in our opinion, are the most effective.

After reading the book, you will have a clear idea of ​​what the devops culture means for your organization in practice. You will learn how to stimulate effective collaboration so that individual employees belonging to different layers and groups, having different goals and owning different working styles can work productively together. You will receive information on how to work together in groups to maximize the value produced while increasing employee satisfaction. You will learn to balance between conflicting organizational goals and select tools and organizational flows that build your organization’s potential.

Book structure

We have worked hard to streamline and organize the chapters of the book. Just as there is no one true way to implement devops, there is no and only one correct way to streamline the actions required to implement devops. Each reader of the book will use a unique sequence of devops implementation steps, solve their own problems and eliminate conflicts that arise.

This book consists of several parts. Part I discusses the overall picture, which is detailed to the level of ideas, definitions, and principles related to devops. Parts II – V discuss the four fundamental concepts that underlie the effective implementation of devops. Part VI concludes the discussion on building links between individuals, groups, and organizations.

Part I. "The basics of devops."
Part II. "Cooperation".
Part III. "Intimacy".
Part IV. "Instruments".
Part V. "Scaling".
Part VI. "Combining devops cultures".

Parts II – V conclude with a chapter discussing various misconceptions related to one or another concept underlying the introduction of devops. This chapter also discusses some universal troubleshooting scenarios related to this topic. Readers involved in the implementation of devops in their organizations in the chapter “Misconceptions and troubleshooting” will also find a number of practical tips that will be useful in their work.

Readers who prefer a computer society, rather than a living person, may be tempted to miss material describing interpersonal interaction and communication culture. This is impractical because this material gives an idea of ​​the principles of teamwork, including intercultural and technological interaction, due to which the degree of effectiveness of devops is increased.

Read the chapters of the book in the most convenient for you order, act in the style of "choosing your own adventure." The concepts underlying the devops are intertwined and closely interconnected, so when reading a book you will repeatedly return to the previously read material in order to refresh this or that concept in memory.

Methodology practices

Throughout the book you will get acquainted with the stories of employees of different companies. This information was obtained in the process of conducting interviews with people at different levels of organizations, based on blog posts, from presentations and applications for company registration. While the topic for each chapter informs about the direction of the practice, the nature of devops causes each case study to affect several, if not all, four concepts underlying the devops.

Also, a combination of more formal practices, informal stories and our personal experience is presented to the readers. All this is done in order to demonstrate the diversity of ways in which devops can influence decision making and narratives.

Read the stories presented in the following chapters. Recognize stories related to your organization. Answer the question about what affects your groups and informs them. Share your stories at corporate or general meetings. Listen to stories about the introduction of devops from other people.

»More information about the book can be found on the publisher's website.
» Table of Contents
» Excerpt

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