Winning over Individual DevOps Skeptics

Speakers:

Gene Kim

Pauly Comtois September 20, 2017

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Housekeeping

▪ This webinar is being recorded

▪ Links to the slides and the recording will be made available after the presentation

▪ You can post questions via the GoToWebinar Control Panel

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Meet Your Presenters

Pauly Comtois

VP DevOps Hearst

Business Media

Gene Kim

Author, Researcher

IT Revolution

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Intro

▪ Early momentum stalls or is lost with the slow steady resistance of key individuals

▪ To continue transformation through this plateau requires support and conscious effort

▪ These are NOT bad people

▪ Leadership and culture

▪ Winning Over Individual Contributor Skeptics To DevOps

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Leaders Affect Outcomes Through…

Source: Puppet/DORA: 2017 State Of DevOps Report: https://puppet.com/resources/whitepaper/state-of-devops-report

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One Of The Highest Predictors Of Performance

Source: Typology Of Organizational Culture (Westrum, 2004)

7Source: Puppet/DORA: 2017 State Of DevOps Report: https://puppet.com/resources/whitepaper/state-of-devops-report

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Archetypes

▪ The Caregiver

▪ The Hero (aka The Firefighter)

▪ The King (aka The Tyrant)

▪ The Creator

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Symptoms▪ The Caregiver

− Avoids conflict at the expense of growth and innovation

▪ The Hero (aka The Firefighter)

− All opinions and “facts” spawn from this individual

− Only engages if he/she can be the center of the solution

▪ The King (aka The Tyrant)

− Takes over every meeting or conversation

− Overrides, diminishes or steals solutions that he/she didn’t create

▪ The Creator

− Discounts any solution that isn’t focused on technology

− Unveils “new solution” after he/she has fully developed it

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Causes of Symptoms

▪ FEAR of loss of identity at the expense of DevOps Culture

− Caregiver: Avoids conflict at the expense of innovation and identifies with being the peace bringer (desired state)

− The Hero: Has a conscious or unconscious need to needed, valued and appreciated above all else (desired state)

− The King: Interrupts anyone that isn’t validating their point and immediately assumes “command” of every situation

− The Creator: A lover of shiny new toys, creates custom solutions in a silo and leaves a trail of half finished apps in his/her wake

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How to Re-align these Individuals

▪ Caregiver: Provide guardrails to make disagreements safer

▪ The Hero: Create a safe way for this person to say ‘no’ and move processes to take them out of the crosshairs for solutions

▪ The King: Set the culture for the team, have leadership empower the team and then allow community guidance

▪ The Creator: Showcase their ongoing work in a public forum and create continuous feedback from the team

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The Process Flow

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Resources

▪ Download the Individual Contributors whitepaper from the DevOps Enterprise Forum 2017

https://itrevolution.com/book/individual-contributors/

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More Whitepapers

https://itrevolution.com/devops-books/

DevOps Enterprise Summit

https://events.itrevolution.com/

Other Resources

Questions

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Thank you!