Written August 18, 2015

The Developer Lead DevOps Initiative - A Talk Proposal

Description:

DevOps doesn’t have to be a decree handed down from on high; in fact the best initiatives are those that start as grassroots efforts, gain the attention of management and then blossom into self-sustaining cultures. In this talk we’ll explore developer lead DevOps initiatives and how to make them succeed.

Abstract:

DevOps is not a tool, or a system, or a strategy. It’s not green builds, or automation or the cloud. It’s not Agile, or Lean or Scrum. It’s a culture. It’s shared values. And most importantly it’s the vision of a nimble, high performing organization with enthusiastic collaboration and realistic expectations of risk and value.

Though most of us don’t recognize it, as developers we are uniquely positioned within our organizations to affect meaningful change. Leveraging iterative and incremental process improvement we can:

  • chip away at organizational impediments that stand in the way of change,
  • help adjust perceptions of value,
  • integrate new communication techniques that decrease friction, increase transparency and have the power to delight our peers,
  • elect to adopt new processes and more importantly abandon those that no longer serve our goals,
  • encourage management to provide metrics that make us more efficient practitioners and more effective members of our organizations,
  • help steer innovation and provide options for the future,

all without a chair in the corner office.

Let’s explore some of the ways that we, as developers, can implement a DevOps initiative and make our organizations awesome!