Skip to content

Philosophy

DevOps & Accountability

Much like “agile,” the term “DevOps” has been unfortunately coopted to mean something far less valuable than it was originally intended. If you hear “DevOps” and think of build and deployment automation, wrangling servers, or navigating cloud infrastructure dashboards, then you’ve missed out on how real DevOps can boost the effectiveness of an organization. At its most fundamental level, DevOps is about designing organizations that make data-informed decisions, and do it fast. When decision making is tangled up in managerial process, approvals, and interdepartmental communication, those decisions are made poorly and slowly.

DevOps is about empowering teams with all the capabilities, competencies, and authority to decide how best to deliver what really matters. This means teams measure what matters, decide how to “move the needle,” and then measure again to see if they had the right impact. By building truly cross-functional teams, those teams can measure and maximize their impact even in the largest organizations. DevOps is about breaking down silos, enabling people to do impactful work, and eliminating obstacles to that impactful work. Autonomous teams, accountability to real results (instead of proxy measures), and continuous improvement make for a powerful combination.

Read Other Thoughts