DevOps to NoOps: State of Play

What is the current state of play in DevOps? What forces are having the greatest impact on the evolution and adoption of DevOps? Is NoOps a valid prospect for the future? Those questions notwithstanding, one thing is certain: while everybody is talking about DevOps, getting from talk to action is proving to be a substantial hurdle for many organizations.

“What I see so far is lack of knowledge,” says podcast panelist Davide Fiorentino. “People don’t know the tools. Most of the time they don’t know what they are talking about.” In some cases the problem can be a lot like trying to turn a battleship.

As panelist Bert Jan Schrijver explains, “it’s typically easier for smaller organizations to move to a definite way of working, and a bit harder for larger organizations,” where the stakes can be high. “I typically try to find organization projects to work on where the IT department has no more than 50 to 60 people. Then there’s a good opportunity to get the organization in the right mindset and to get everybody on deck.”

But in Bert’s experience, smaller doesn’t always mean easier. “It can be easier to convince 1500 people who have the same mindset than 50 people who are basically against all that you’re saying.”

In that situation management support can be invaluable. “It’s always been about having unconditional support in all levels of the organization, especially in management,” Bert says. “Because when you’re changing an organization you’re always going to hit resistance. And if you’re going to get resistance from somebody who’s higher up in the tree than you, then you better have support from that person’s manager.”

“The key to working as a DevOps team is not being blocked by people or departments outside your team that you don’t have influence on,” Bert adds. “A true DevOps team is a cross-functional team which is a team that can do anything necessary to go from idea to working software in production.”

“That’s a very important point!” agrees Michael. “I really appreciate the ops guys having strong experiences and skills about non-functional parts of the solution, and running and scaling out infrastructure.”

Of course, there is a lot more to getting from DevOps talk to real transformation, and what you’re reading here is only a fraction of the insight Davide, Bert, and Michael offer in this podcast. So strap on your headphones and dig in.

The Panelists

Davide FiorentinoPrincipal DevOps Engineer, Cambridge Broadband Networks Limited (CBNL)Consultant, Food and Agriculture Organization, United Nations

Code One Session:

DevOps in Action [BOF5289] Monday, Oct 22, 7:30 p.m. – 8:15 p.m. | Moscone West – Room 2009

Michael HuttermanJava ChampionOracle Developer ChampionIndependent DevOps Consultant

Code One Session:

Continuous Delivery/DevOps: Live Cooking Show [DEV4762]Monday, Oct 22, 2:30 p.m. – 3:15 p.m. | Moscone West – Room 2010

Bert Jan SchrijverJava ChampionOracle Developer ChampionCTO, OpenValueSoftware Craftsman, JPoint

Code One Sessions:

Better Software, Faster: Principles of Continuous Delivery and DevOps [DEV5118]Monday, Oct 22, 4:00 p.m. – 4:45 p.m. | Moscone West – Room 2010
Angular for Java Developers [DEV4345]Wednesday, Oct 24, 10:30 a.m. – 11:15 a.m. | Moscone West – Room 2003
Microservices in Action at the Dutch National Police [DEV4344]Monday, Oct 22, 2:30 p.m. – 3:15 p.m. | Moscone West – Room 2007

Javed MohammedPodcast Co-HostSystems Community Manager, Oracle