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Friday 2nd February - The DevOps Team
It's February. So, what's going on with your project? What's happening in your organisation? Are people happy? Are improvements being made?
Over the last few weeks, I had a few thoughts about improving from the ground up. I work day-to-day as a DevOps engineer, and from there, I can shape interactions we have as a team with other teams and also what products (or platforms) we offer. I feel lucky to have this role as I get to work with many developers with different challenges in multiple languages and frameworks, and I have a significant degree of freedom on what to do next. I feel this is a win-win. I get to do what I enjoy most, and the organisation gets to have organised help for its less expired dev teams. However, some people might think that a DevOps team shouldn't exist.
In fact, many experts see a DevOps team as an antipattern.
But if your organisation is still trying to get to grips with the concept of the cloud, then a DevOps team can be invaluable. A team comprising people who can both speak as a developer and understand systems and operating systems, networks and more advanced cloud ideas can help and support development teams get to the next level - even if that means just learning to google more effectively for solutions to problems.
DevOps is about pragmatism, getting things done when you need to, and taking ownership. A DevOps team can help you achieve that by providing coaching, platforms, and a crystal clear focus on the customer- in this case, the software product development community.
Therefore I wrote a couple of articles over the last few weeks. One about how to let your best techies (your architects) loose among your dev teams. And one about how to build lasting psychological safey in your organisation.
I hope you get something out of them.
Have a great weekend,
-- Richard
The Value of Socially Driven Architecture
Published on February 1, 2024
Even if it seems like the right thing to do, just putting people to work is not always the most effective way of improving your systems. Can we start to understand the value of a more socially driven architecture? Here’s a scenario. The software architect is at work. After reviewing the current state of the… Read More »The Value of Socially Driven Architecture
Building Resilience: How to form lasting psychological safety
Published on January 15, 2024
This is the first of a two-part post about building individual resilience in software engineering. Today is Blue Monday. According to experts this is mentally the toughest day of the year for knowledge workers in the Northern Hemisphere. The low point of the year for many of us due to the long dark days, the… Read More »Building Resilience: How to form lasting psychological safety
Human DevOps
by Richard Bown
Join my newsletter for regular views and news about doing effective, essential human DevOps engineering. I dive into the human factors that make successful DevOps organizations and the teams and platforms at the heart of your socio-technical systems. From leadership to team setup, maximizing performance, tools and techniques.
Is it just me, or is April turning out to be a complete stinker? The rain hasn't stopped, it's cold, and it feels more like October or November than it does at the start of spring. This feeling appears to be pervading work at the moment, too—I sense frustration bubbling under at every turn. We need some warm sunshine and a few days off before heading back to the grind. I have a short trip coming up and a few things to look forward to not least the just-announced Fast Flow Conference in London...
It's notable how trends take a long time to get moving, and suddenly, they seem everywhere. For the last month or so, I've been working for the Team Topologies organisation, helping them gather some knowledge about applying their ideas and techniques across the industry. I've been talking to agile and DevOps practitioners, consultants, and coaches, people who are using techniques in organisations to make them more humane, to make them more pleasant places to work, and to improve the flow of...
A couple of weeks ago, I ran the Amstelveen Marathon in support of Suicide Prevention NL. It's the first marathon I've attempted in over 12 years and my fifth overall. My fastest time ever was 3 hours 46 minutes. This time, I hoped to complete it in under 4 hours 30 minutes. I figured that with decent training, including some strength training, I'd be able to manage this okay. However, I really learned an important lesson on the day. I eventually completed it in an undistinguished time of 4...