DEVOPSDAYS DOWN UNDER

there is no talent shortageAndrew Clay Shafer @littleidea

12 JULY 2013

start with history

you can either easily manage complex systems at scale...

or you can’t...

developer sysadmin

3 people

2008

developer sysadmin

more people

2013

confession:I was never particularly passionate about operations

confession:I was never particularly passionate about development

I was paid to develop

I am easily impassioned

I became fascinated with the dynamics of high performance

fascinated with the dynamics of high performing organizations

and the individuals that comprise them

a master

mentally and physically unprepared for reality

the game had changed

In the 1960s, GM averaged a 48.3% share of the U.S. car and truck market

the game had changed

the game has changed

the game has changed

10 deploys a day 50 deploys per day

infrastructure is code

continuous this, that, and the other

all about culture

tools really do matter

all about the business

what about ITIL?

understand the flow of work

antifragile

quit your job feedback and visibility

measure everything

the game has changed

the game has changed

What should we DO? Who should we HIRE?

devops isn’t working!We can never do that!

WE CAN’T FIND TALENT!

the game has changed

A WAR FOR TALENT!

fail

the game has changed

What makes the difference?

devops doesn’t workpeople do

a word about jobs

stone cutting doesn’t work?

Three Stone Cutters

“I’m paid to cut stones”

“I use special techniques to shape stones in an exceptional way, here let me show you.”

I build cathedrals.a sense of purpose

we reduce people to their job

dev ops

we talk about culturelike culture is a checkbox on a list

we talk about culturethen abstract everything into boxes with labels

we talk about culturethen hire based on a laundry list of buzzwords

we talk around culture

‘commitment’

‘cultural fit’ ‘motivation’

‘values’ ‘vision’

do we cultivate culture?

do we cultivate individuals?this is the original meaning

incentives and behaviorsthe games people play

game theorythe study of mathematical models of conflict and

cooperation between intelligent rational decisions makers

rationalchooses to maximizing utility function

Nash Equilibriumno players have anything to gain by changing

only their own strategy unilaterally.

Pareto Efficiencyan allocation of resources in which it is

impossible to make any one individual better off without making at least one individual worse off

Pareto Inefficient Nash Equilibriumpossible to make an individual better off without making any individual worse off

no one will change their strategy

Pareto Inefficient Nash Equilibrium

until the game changes

the game has changed

software is eating the world

remember dvds?

we are in the middle of inventing our culture.--Patty McCord

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o3e1lnixKBM

The real company values, as opposed to the nice sounding values, are shown by who gets rewarded, promoted, or let go.

--Patty McCord

real values determine incentives

incentives determine behaviors

rational agents maximizing utility functions

you are either building a software business...

or you will be losing to someone who is...

everyone is starting to understand this

you are either building a learning organization...

or you will be losing to someone who is...

organizational learning“a dynamic process of creation, acquisition and integration of

knowledge aimed at the development of resources and capabilities that contribute to better organizational performance”

“support the acquisition of information, the distribution and sharing of learning, and that reinforce and support continuous learning and its application to organizational improvement”

“Thus, organizational learning culture is under constant construction, moving along an infinite continuum towards a

harmonious learning environment”

7 dimensions of Organizational Learning

continuous learningrepresents an organization’s effort to create continuous

learning opportunities for ALL of its members

inquiry and dialoguean organization’s effort in creating a culture of

questioning, feedback, and experimentation

team learningspirit of collaboration and the collaborative skills that

undergird the effective use of teams

empowermentencourage feedback and action to address the gap between

the current status and the vision regardless of rank

embedded systemestablish systems to capture and share learning

system connectionactions to connect the organization to its

internal and external environment

strategic leadership

the extent to which leaders act strategically using learning to create change

In my organization?

dimensions of the learning organization questionnaire (DLOQ)http://www.partnersforlearning.com/questions2.asp

Questions

Watkins and Marsick

In my organization, people openly discuss mistakes in order to learn from them

In my organization, people identify skills they need for future work tasks

In my organization, people are encouraged to ask “why” regardless of rank

In my organization, teams/groups focus both on the group’s task and on

how well the group is working

My organization builds alignment of visions across different levels and work groups

In my organization!

Statements

not only exist in spirit, but are incentivized!

if they are not incentivized, they won’t exist

rational agents maximizing utility functions

stop conflating learning with academics

stop conflating learning with training

stop conflating learning with education

there is no ‘school’

the organizations that build the future become ‘graduate studies’ in

the skills they require to do so

The learning organization is one that has the capacity to integrate people

and structures in order to move toward continuous learning and change.

learning cannot be something that happens outside of the process

learning is the point of the process

continuous learning

a learning organization not only has the advantage of the increasing capacity of cultivated talents, but has advantages

attracting and retaining talent

there is no talent shortagethere is a shortage of vision and courage

you are not your job

I build the future

build the future

we build the futuretogether

the game has changed

come at me

@littleidea

✤ Netflix - culture unleashed http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o3e1lnixKBM

✤ dimensions of the learning organization questionnaire (DLOQ) - http://www.partnersforlearning.com/questions2.asp

✤ Maverick - the worlds most unusual workplace - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maverick_(book)

✤ The Fifth Discipline - The Art and Practice of the Learning Organization - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Fifth_Discipline

✤ Organizational Learning Culture's Influence on Job Satisfaction... - http://conservancy.umn.edu/bitstream/53624/1/Hsu_umn_0130E_10474.pdf

✤ Yang, B. (2003). Identifying valid and reliable measures for dimensions of a learning culture. Advances in Developing Human Resources

✤ Fred Ettish - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z5maknndsas

Resources