Instead of a tool- and process-oriented approach, we should focus on fostering a shared culture and noticing the needs of the people around us.
DevOps was designed to enable effective collaboration and abolish information silos in software development and digital solutions. In recent years, the method has become increasingly widespread.
Gofore’s DevOps architect Jani Haapala wishes to highlight a common challenge in implementing DevOps.
“With DevOps, people often focus on the tools and process. We feel that DevOps is first and foremost a culture and that we should progress with people in mind. When the culture has been defined and the shared values have been established, we can create the processes and choose the tools that best support them,” he says.
According to Haapala, this creates genuine, sustainable digital evolution and a safe working environment for everyone.
Cultural capital investments as a part of operations
The popularity of DevOps is partially explained by the fact that it’s such an integral part of the biggest success stories in the digital industry, such as Apple or Google.
“In these companies, culture plays a big role, it’s almost like a religion. It allows everyone in the organisation to move in the same direction.”
Haapala believes that once the culture is right and commonly understood, DevOps will deliver the desired benefits.
“Both speed and amount of innovations are increased.”
Haapala wishes that people would be as willing to invest in culture as they are in tools. He finds this to be especially important in our current situation, where our methods of collaboration have been completely recast.
“I have witnessed personally that in companies where there’s a strong cultural model of collaboration, remote work hasn’t really changed a thing. In other companies, however, moving to a home office might have cut off communication completely,” Haapala says.
He also wishes to draw attention to the fundamental principles of DevOps that consist of both freedom and responsibility.
“We shouldn’t attempt to control the method from above, but rather give its users unlimited freedom – but also the responsibility – to fulfil the client’s wishes,” he says.
The original article has been published 30.4.2021 as a part of Future of Finland publication.
Gofore organises webinars on Real DevOps this spring. The webinars are hosted by the expert consulted in the article, Jani Haapala.
