The Doppler Quarterly Fall 2017 | Page 66

Go Big on DevOps: Transforming the Enterprise Beyond Automation Mike Kavis Going big on DevOps means more than just IT automa- tion and CI/CD; it’s about transforming your people, processes and technologies. One of the biggest value propositions of the cloud is agility. Enterprises are leveraging the public cloud to accelerate delivery of new services and features at speeds not seen before. But in order to achieve agility, enterprises need to do more than just learn how to leverage cloud services. They also need to assess their legacy baggage and transform the way they think about software and delivery. Legacy baggage comes in many forms. Many of the vendor solutions that enter- prises have embraced in the era of the data center do not have a viable equiva- lent in the public cloud. Many legacy processes were derived in the days of biannual releases, which get in the way of progress in the era of continuous delivery. To be agile, legacy organizational structures, built to control costs and dictate policy, must give way to new organizational structures that pro- mote high levels of collaboration, transparency, and shared goals. As I have written in the past — and many of my colleagues agree — agility is the new currency. Cloud is one part of the equation. Getting out of the data center business and embracing cloud APIs is a great step forward. However, embrac- ing the cloud without embracing the need for transformational change is a los- ing proposition. The Solution: Go Big on DevOps Many people equate DevOps to IT Automation or even CI/CD. Automation and CI/CD are components of DevOps that you will typically incorporate into your DevOps journey but they are not DevOps in and of themselves. At CTP, our 64 | THE DOPPLER | FALL 2017