Passion, drive and relentless pursuit of almost mythical productivity improvements while ignoring the organizational necessities of building adoption and showing incremental successes early can make devops evangelists appear to be crazed Captain Ahabs. As your teams lash themselves to the mast waiting for the inevitable confrontation with an organization that ‘has always done things this way..’ you bellow into the gale…’cant you see that this is so much better!!’ It doesn’t have to be that way. Large enterprises have a great deal to both learn and teach about implementing devops at scale. Moby Dick is one of the greatest american novels ever written and is a brilliant analogy for what to avoid if your aim is to tame the devops whale in enterprises where you do not control all the elements. The big sea is very different from a garage… From this cautionary tale, we learn; The importance of committing – don’t just talk about devops. Do it. Decide to go to sea. Building a diverse willing team from across your business. Secret stowaway projects deliver early and then stall. Listen to the advice of other captains. There will be problems along the way and you will need them on the way back for sure. De-Centre your excellence. Its easier to land the whale with a lot of little boats than one big one. Devops changes the very fabric of how large enterprises have evolved to deliver IT systems…and yet you will find your message has enormous resonance for many. The secret to effectively seeding devops and growing its influence in your organization lies with the organization itself and how you make your devops journey everyone else’s too.

1. Hunting The Devops Whale in Large
Enterprises
Justin Arbuckle
VP EMEA, CHEF with artwork by Matt
Kish

2. the narrative arc
Loomin
g
Alliances and
Prophets
Appearan
ce
Challen
ge
Captai
ns
Squa
ll
Spearin
g
Sparin
g
Hunter
s
Sea and
Land
2

3. 3

4. “It is not down on any map; true places never
are.”
• Go to sea.
• Building an authentic alliance
• Keeping your Compass by losing your centre
• Remembering your route
4

5. Looming
Decide to “go to sea”.
Stop being an observer. Have a point of
view. Don’t outsource it.
A problem looms. Always.
Consistency is the root of…
security
stability
Simplicity
Velocity is the destination.
5

6. Land & Sea
this is the land:
Waterfall, big designs and slowly
failing projects.
this is the sea:
Open Source, Continuous Delivery,
Agile, MVP, DevOps and fast failing
projects.
But why?
6

7. System
Custom
er
Product
Consistency
Speed
Scale
Functio
ns on
LAND
Relatio
ns of
the SEA

8. Alliance & Prophets
Beware of prophets of doom, find
your “Spouter Inn”
Find those who share the problem
and need to get to sea…
8

9. Appearance
The looming idea becomes real.
Show them.
Early demonstrations to everybody.
You will know if others lack faith.
BEWARE THE CHASM!
9

10. The Journey…getting to web-scale
Complex,
Inconsiste
nt, Static
#
Elastic
Consistent
Migrate-able
the operating chasm
Increasing ecosystem
drag
What:
ITIL
Who:
Auth
How:
API

11. Challenge
Set a challenge to SHOW the payoff -
full stack, short timeframe, visible.
faster = better design (!)
faster to MVP proves your process
Remember, you don’t have to (can’t)
pick just one!
11

12. Hunters
12
A. Separate certification of
compliance from testing
A. Assign a product owner for
compliance in the implementation
team.
A. Invite everyone to weekly sprint
demos

13. #whaleSausage
A dedicated team from across the
businesses
…who will return to shore one day.
You CANNOT be the centre. (That’s
Ahab’s way)
Don’t create a ‘devops’ team…never
seen again.
13

14. Squall
Five Kinds, usually 2 at a time:
1. Technical
2. Organisational
3. Cultural
4. Commercial
5. Procedural
Every one is weathered by relying on the
spread of your alliance in the challenge
DECENTRE YOUR EXCELLENCE
14

15. Spearing
Long hours, many failed
attempts...and finally success.
Small projects. Spread your bets.
Some will not have made it. Dont be
afraid to differentiate but draw them
back in for the next round.
15

16. Automate Software
Automate
Infrastructure
Infrastructure as a Service or
‘Cloud’
Continuous
Delivery
Full
Devops
Concerns about
Speed
Concerns
about Scale
Concerns about
Compliance
the portfolio curve

17. Sparing
Your first challenge should result in
a platform for the next.
17

18. Ahab
the Whale
Starbuck Queequeg
Ishmael
The Archetypes All of them at some time…

19. ja@getchef.com
@dromologue
Look me up in London via foursquare /
swarm