DevOps

In the first two parts of this series, I talked about the problem space of mixed operating models in an organisation, why it exists and how to prepare for it. In this post I want to talk about the most important and often most challenging element of operating mixed operating models within an organisation: the cultural change. Any transition of working practices requires a corresponding and iterative process of empathetic change management, where with every modification and iteration, context is given for the changes, conversations are had with those who might be effected and (unlike many corporate change management initiatives) the process includes the input of those on the front-line of the changes. ...

In the first post on Mixed Operating Models I discussed that each application in your landscape, both custom built and third-party will need a different type of operating model and using wardley mapping to map that landscape will give the context of which model is appropriate and at what time. Transitioning between models won’t be easy and requires both technical and cultural changes to be successful. In this post, I will talk about the technical aspects that act as a foundation to any operating model change and cultural shift. ...

This month I wanted to start discussing a topic that has been going around and around in circles of conversation and thoughts for several years now - mixed operating models in IT organisations. There is a lot of ground to cover so stick with me over the next couple of posts and I’ll show you how and why this comes about and what we can do about it. The Problem One of the most challenging aspects of operating IT systems in large enterprise organisations is that there is a complex web of applications, data and infrastructure of varying ages and levels of support. At one end of the spectrum there are homegrown applications supported by agile development teams releasing every two weeks (or more often - wooo!) and then at the other end there are big clunky corporate applications that support all the revenue and all the processes that get the job done day-to-day. One problem I’ve seen in organisations is process and culture that treats both of these applications (and everything in between) the same way. ...