DevOps is a software engineering culture and practice that aims at unifying software development (Dev) and software operation (Ops). As a summary of what DevOps consists of - in the course they used the CAMS acronym - which stands for culture, automation, measurement and sharing.
The first letter is C for culture and it reminded me how important culture is for change and how an organisation operates.
A quote that has been attributed to the management guru Peter Drucker is
"Culture eats strategy for breakfast" - Peter F. Drucker
Culture may be the hardest one factor to get right if you carry out a change project to introduce DevOps practices in your organisation.
Looking to the classic management magazine HBR for how to work on changing company culture - this recent article mentions the importance to connect with the mission of the company - the raison d'être - reason to exist.
Tying back to this - what are the reasons that a company has an IT department?
- IT is needed to execute well on the daily business processes
- IT is needed for information discovery and keeping track of important KPIs for the company - like sales, company assets or keeping track of client interactions
- Ultimately - if the company depends on their IT department to such a large extent - which is more the rule than the exception today in 2018 - it will greatly influence how the company is perceived by outside stakeholders like its clients.
How can the topic of culture within IT be addressed by an individual contributor? I think a great place to start is by having conversations about the mission and values of the organization - both with peers and managers. These conversations will provide you with outright statements as well as subtle cues to what is important and valued within the organisation that you work for.
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