“The main characteristic of the DevOps movement is to strongly advocate auto-
mation and monitoring at all steps of software construction, from integration,
testing, releasing, to deployment and infrastructure management.”
Here are some thoughts as to why this focus on “different groups and roles for
different responsibilities” does not violate DevOps principles.
1. Many of the items in the “pieces” list above are not directly related to
“Development” or “Operations,” but rather to functions such as Product
Management and Customer Support. For these roles, the DevOps focus
on automation aids their functions but cannot directly perform them for
items such as release testing or infrastructure rollout and monitoring.
2. In a larger sense, dedicating certain groups and staff to specific func-
tions is directly in line with overarching DevOps principles, especially
when this enables reducing development cycle time and continuous
improvement through iterative and incremental correction.
3. The types of structures described in this article most definitely depend
on regular communication within and among groups. Product Owner-
ship needs regular interaction with Platform Development to discuss
possible architectures, features and priorities, while Cloud Operations
may reach out to Platform Development for enhanced tooling. Cloud
Customer Support needs to communicate with Cloud Operations to stay
consistent with release schedule communications. These structures are
NOT invitations to recreate the IT silos of the past.
Next Steps and Takeaways
Here are some steps you can take to enable your cloud customers:
1. Put yourself in your end user’s frame of mind. Imagine interacting with
your platform as they would.
2. Think about all the forms of feedback and communication your cloud
customers want or expect, and who and what systems would be best to
create and manage those communications.
3. Determine the tasks that must be repeated on a regular basis to keep
your cloud platform running. Automate these tasks wherever possible;
train smart people to perform and improve on them wherever automa-
tion is not currently possible.
4. Chart out the roles and skills needed, and look for ways to bring in and
train the right talent for those roles, from internal or external sources.
FALL 2018 | THE DOPPLER | 65