It is imperative nowadays to have short feedback loops with real customers and end-users. Therefore, all activities involved in building IT products and services should revolve around customers. To meet customers’ requirements, DevOps organizations need to have courage to act as Lean startups that:
Innovate continuously.
Adjust when a certain strategy is not working.
Constantly invest in products and services that receive a maximum level of customer delight.
Rapidly respond to changing or emerging customer needs.
This principle is extremely difficult to consider, implement and sustain if the true core of its value is not shared by all in the organisation.
We recognise this principle as the core to answering the question of ;
"Why are we doing this?"
Unless we can see the clear line of sight to how our customer can be delighted and in turn how their feedback can be received, we are merely creating waste. Wasting time in doing something that will have no positive impact to you, your organisation or your customer. Wasting money on people, process and tooling which in a Government or Enterprise organisation, can be colossal.
It starts with courage and authority to fulfill the customers needs. Traits that must be taught, nurtured and encouraged within your people. This sense of empowerment leads to all that is needed to practice this principle and more.
Much like agile, EQ skills needed to successfully master DevOps is critical. Playing with cloud service consoles and building Jenkins pipelines are but tools driven by people. People who need to have a sense of purpose, passion and long term commitment in ensuring customer delight. Training is paramount and coaching is recommended. The outcome is well worth the journey...
Paul Mateos
Solutions Consultant | Pufferfish Solutions
paulmateos@pufferfish.solutions
To Learn more about the 6 Core principles of DevOps, please visit www.pufferfish.solutions/training or contact us today at info@pufferfish.solutions