Nic Whittaker, Head of Platform Engineering & DevOps

27th September 2018

Breadcrumbs for Lost Explorers

Introduction

Who am I?

I’m not the important guy who keeps the planes in the air.

That would be this guy, in the picture.

What is this presentation about…?

This isn’t…

• a talk that describes how “DevOps-y” we all are at Virgin Atlantic

• a talk about Puppet or Jenkins or CICD tools or “Teams vs Slack” or how we

only use fantastic SREs and T-shapes resources or “which cloud?”

• a model or recommendation.

This is…

• a talk about what to do when you don’t know what to do, and then

• what to do when that isn’t working.

1 First Breadcrumb

You need to understand why you are

having the DevOps conversation

Why do you want to change?

What are the drivers?

Why are you having a DevOps conversation?

The Explorer’s First Panic Attack

Ummmm…so where do I start?

Copyright Hillcrest

2 Second Breadcrumb

Crikey. Where do I start?

Do you understand where you are at

right now?

• Do we have any agile?

• Maturity assessment?

• Value stream mapping?

• Cloud costs and governance?

• Reinventing the wheel?

• No expertise or losing expertise?

• API strategy?

• In-house or are you heavily supply-

chain managed?

Do you understand what it really means

to get you to DevOps?

• “agility” rather than “iterative

waterfall” or “agile theatre” or

“weaponised agile”

• Lean

• “Speed”….

• DevOps - this isn’t just CICD

• Collaborative behaviours across the

whole organisation

The Explorer’s Second Panic Attack

I’m only at the start of the path…this

is MASSIVE!!!

So where do I start?!

Look at how other people are doing it.

Have conversations with your existing SI’s and 3rd party suppliers. You need Delivery Partners!

Lighthouse?

Bottom up?

Top down Framework?

Triangulate between these!

Socialise the message.

The Explorer’s Third Panic Attack

How am I going to make this work when

“They” won’t fund me until I’ve shown it’s

working…?!?

Copyright Wordpress

3 Third Breadcrumb

What have you got to work with?

Negotiate with a supplier?

Can you move a project cost around?

Can you repurpose a training budget?

Can you hire, directly or via contract, that first good person who “gets it” and on whom you can rely?

Do you have real allies?

Remember – this is about people – you’ll get so much further with a basecamp and fellow explorers.

4 Fourth Breadcrumb

Just start something, somewhere…

Start!

But you may have no money and no buy in?

Ok, how about a project already running? I started here.

Wherever you start, you can still carry on thinking about the “bigger” scope…

Remember triangulation?

Meanwhile - if you haven't already, start annoying senior leadership. If they’re not annoyed you’re not trying hard enough.

The Explorer’s Fourth Panic Attack

What if I’ve chosen the wrong path…?

Copyright Tripadvisor

5 Fifth Breadcrumb

It really doesn't matter…you’ve

managed to take off!

And remember, you’re agile and lean

so you’re bound to change course.

"A year from now you will wish you had

started today" - Karen Lamb

Now you're doing "something - where is it getting you?

Maturity measures?

Are you changing the right stuff? – the Lean stuff. Theory of Constraints (Bottlenecks), Kaizen, The 5 Why's etc.

Are you clear on the core values – if they’re yours and not ours, perhaps you should refocus?

"High Trust, Low Blame" & "Smart and Kind".

People first, tools second…check your bearings!

Don’t panic, but…

The problems start mounting up…

• “It's not fast enough - I'm off outside the tent“

• I can only get so far with “bottom up”

• Negativity, brick walls, let downs, elephants in the room

• “Stuff” you forgot to cost in

• The network and infrastructure teams

• Supplier staff issues

• Rooms! Infrastructure!

• Curve balls!

Copyright National Geographic

6 Sixth Breadcrumb

Get some headspace…

You're just knackered. Take some time out and headspace.

Remember that network of alliances and by now friends…?

Most importantly – stop. Put down the backpack. Turn around.

You might only be a quarter of the way up, but look how far you’ve actually come with all these small steps….

7 Shared Breadcrumbs

Did I mention “people”…?

People engagement?

Workshops - get their input.

101s - have you seen Lego and Chocolate?

Include the naysayers.

Accrued resources to help drive the work forward.

All those great contacts!

8 The Final Breadcrumb

Just when you think you’re finally

motoring...

"Agile Is Dead" …it’s all about “Flow”...?

And “Barbara” has just had an unbelievable job offer from a consulting firm...

…and…and…

You need to be prepared and you need to be resilient.

And keep focused on the promised land…

“Every success story is a tale of constant

adaption, revision and change. A company that

stands still will soon be forgotten.”

Sir Richard Branson, 2012

Thank you