magic, myth and the devops
DESCRIPTION
"Once upon a time": powerful words that begin many oral narratives and indicate that the story to be told will be imbued with magic and myth. Organizational folklore can be a very powerful force for instilling or perpetuating behavior, systems, and culture within an organization. Too often, fear and negativity are the driving forces in the folklore behind many organizational traditions. A positive narrative that embraces the customs and traditions of a healthy, balanced feedback loop can help jumpstart your DevOps journey. This talk will help you frame your narrative alongside metrics and use folklore as a catalyst for positive change.TRANSCRIPT
Magic, Myth and the DevOpsJennifer Davis @sigje
DevOpsDays Vancouver 2014
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Agenda• What are Myths?• See the Myths• Speaking up
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The Zero's JourneyThere is no "One".
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Devops is a Myth
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Mythsguide behaviors.
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Mythsbased in tradition.
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Mythsexplain the world and our
significance.
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Myths are the oral history passed around
to give value to the unknown.
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Myths ...1 part promise1 part warning.
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Myths are stories.With power to cause action.
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Myths are magic.Unseen, invoking behavior. Influencing us.
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Myths are programs.Allow us to alter our central algorithm.
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Insanity is doing the same thing over and over and
expecting different results.
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Story of your typical team
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Exposing Hidden Myths
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Myth: Finding "The One"• rockstar
• ninja
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Job Req: Site Rebel Engineer (SRE)
Talented team of Jedi, we have, gained significant traction that a business model has, and to expand a real need - - quickly! Looking for smart, we are, energetic, to grow our company at a lightening pace hard-working individuals who want a chance. This is a position that is relegated to the shadows not - your contributions -, have dramatic input on the direction the company goes, thoughts and input will. There are a variety of challenges and obstacles that await you and, excited to see how you go about solving them, are we.
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• Certified Jedi Master
• 4 years lightsaber experience
• ability to carry 80 lbs for 1 mile
• X-Wing pilot license
• 24 hour oncall
With force push and mental persuasion - experience.
To join and contribute to a team of smart - desire, talented, to create something bigger than themselves hard-working
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Myth: Interview as a gauge of skills
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Myth: Education
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Myth: Outdated Engineer
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Myth: Productive Loner
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Myth: The "right" way.• identify good culture
• current team, background, and effective
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Storm Troopers• no diversity
• assigned activities
Purpose: your assigned duty.Told what to do, when to do it.
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The Borg• no individuality
• no family/outside interests
• no celebrations
Purpose: growth and assimilation
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Fear Culture
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Red Shirt
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Role adherence
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Role adherenceFarm boySmugglerPrincess
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Constraining individuals• A developer does...
• An ops does ...
to the detriment of the team.
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Speaking up.
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Why?• Change your organization.
• Educate peers.
• Influence DevOps community.
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Key strategies• Explicit.
• Informs decision making.
• Encapsulates aim and key values.
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It takes a thousand voices to tell a single story.
— Native American saying
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Listen• who is involved?
• what is the current state?
• cultures?
• beliefs?
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Ensure diversity
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The language of the culture also reflects the stories of the culture. One word or simple phrasal labels often describe the story adequately enough in what we have termed culturally common stories. To some extent, the stories of a culture are observable by inspecting the vocabulary of that culture. Often entire stories are embodied in one very culture-specific word. The story words unique to a culture reveal cultural differences.
Roger C. Shank
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Identify Inconsistencies and Defenses
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Organizational LearningChris Argyris and Donald Schon
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Theory of ActionTheory In Use
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Model ISingle Loop
• encourages defensive behaviors (blame)
• Behaviors learned early on
• Skilled Incompetence - Aversion to learning
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Organizational Defense Routinebypass and coverup
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Organizational Malaise• organizational failures, no responsibility
• focus on negative
• the unimplementable values
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Model IIDouble Loop
• slowed reasonings
• increased analytics
• increased reflection
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TechnologyGraphs with overlays
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TechnologyGraphs with overlays
Kanban boards
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TechnologyGraphs with overlays
Kanban boardsTime Tracking
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Review• What are Myths?• See the Myths• Speaking up
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DevOps or DevOps not. There is no try.
— Yoda
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