DevOps Patterns and Anti-patterns: How to do the Right Thing in the Real World.

In DevOps, what patterns lead to success? What are the anti-patterns that should be avoided? Charles Kendrick – CTO here at Isomorphic Software – recently participated in a DevOps power panel at the Cloud Expo in New York. The session was very well attended and incredibly well received. We thought we would share a few of the questions posed to the panel, along with some insights from their responses. Click here for a video of the full session.

Best Practices
Is there a place for best practices in DevOps?

We should not be using the term ‘best practice’. DevOps is a journey – not a destination. It is all about continuous improvement. If you think you know the best way of doing something then you stop trying to improve.

DevOps as a Job Title
Should there be a DevOps Manager role in every organization?

There should not be a DevOps Manager role. Of course, we can expect to see the role / skill appear on resumes and in Linkedin. However, the idea of having a single person dictate how DevOps should be done in an organization – except perhaps in a short, transitional position – works against building the necessary collaborative, trusting relationships that are required.

There could be a role such as a DevOps Facilitator, DevOps Guru, that helps build the necessary collaborative, consultative relationships. Regardless of how the philosophy is introduced, everyone has to be thinking this way.

Which Methodology?
There are many methodologies such as scrum, agile, kanban, etc. Do you pick one? Use them all together?

DevOps is a journey. Choose your own adventure. Choose your own path of what will work for your organization. Methodologies also do not have to be followed to the letter. They are just guidelines. You can pull from each like a tool box.

For example, some methodologies require the team to beat on a problem with everyone in the room. If you have distributed team, this will not really work for you. Some people also need time to think on their own, so being forced to work together in a room does not get the best out of them. When consensus is forced like this, smart voices often get pushed down.

DevOps “Wall of Confusion”
It has been said that there is a wall between Dev and Ops and that causes confusion. This would be an anti-pattern. Is the wall breaking down? Are we getting more collaboration, communication, integration? How do you help break it down?

Looking across organizations, things are improving but it is still a problem. Within an organization, the wall between dev and ops should be broken down very incrementally. Start with small steps. For example, give developers access to performance metrics instead of making them request it. The more dev minded ops people and more ops minded dev people will naturally start to communicate and work together.

Click here for a video of the full session.

Enjoy!

P.S. We will be presenting in the DevOps Summit @ Cloud Expo in Santa Clara, CA from Tues Nov 1 – Thur Nov 3. If you would like a FULL CONFERENCE FREE PASS, email jason@isomorphic.com and I’ll hook you up.

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