0800-DEVOPS Ivan Krnic

John Willis is another absolute legend in software delivery and DevOps, an industry veteran working at companies such as Docker and evangelizing good technical practices. He is the co-author of The DevOps Handbook, Beyond The Phoenix Project and Investments Unlimited, and lately, he published an incredible book on Dr. William Edwards Deming called "Deming's Journey to Profound Knowledge."

I thought I knew everything there was to know about Dr. Deming - after all, what is there to know - watch out for seven data points in a row above or beyond the average and do something - and that's it! Except it's not! :)

Through his book and by hanging out with him in a weekly book club, John took me on the journey of exploring Deming, and at times, it felt like going through an escape room - just as I thought I understood everything, I'd find a new door and a whole new world. This episode is a glimpse into John's book and our ongoing conversations with the hope that we will also spark interest for Deming in others.

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Show notes:
John Willis' Ignite talk: "Devops and Dr Deming’s 14 Points" (Velocity NY 2014) - YouTube

This interview is featured in 0800-DEVOPS #57 - Deming’s Journey to Profound Knowledge with John Willis.

[Check out podcast chapters if available on your podcast platform or use links below]

(0:01)
Introduction

(1:32)
How John started exploring Dr. Deming

(11:17)
The System of Profound Knowledge

(21:25)
An example of PDSA working in an organization

(30:50)
Key experiences that shaped Dr. Deming's work

(42:14)
DevOps and Dr. Deming's 14 Points

(44:07)
Book recommendations

Legends don't need introductions, but I'll write a light one, nevertheless. Gene Kim is the author or co-author of many significant books from DevOps space (The Phoenix Project, The Unicorn Project, Accelerate, The DevOps Handbook, to name a few) and the mastermind behind the amazing DevOps Enterprise Summit conference. I spoke with Gene about rewiring our organizations to set them for success.

🙌 Help me spread DevOps ideas even further by voting for the 0800-DEVOPS podcast for DevOps Dozen 2023 award in the “4. Best DevOps Related Podcast Series (Audio Only)” category - I truly appreciate it! You can cast your vote here.

Please leave a review on your favorite podcast platform or Podchaser, and subscribe to 0800-DEVOPS newsletter here.

This interview is featured in 0800-DEVOPS #56 - Wiring the Winning Organization with Gene Kim.

[Check out podcast chapters if available on your podcast platform or use links below]

(1:19)
DevOps Enterprise Summit conference
 
(4:16)
Wiring the Winning Organization
 
(9:06)
Three mechanisms of performance
 
(17:24)
Layers on which work happens
 
(21:40)
The role of leadership
 
(27:29)
Advice for change agents
 
(30:59)
Present and future of DevOps
 
(37:18)
Book recommendations

Dr. Vladyslav Ukis is Head of R&D at Siemens Healthineers with a strong interest in topics of Software Architecture, Cloud Computing, and Digital Transformation, to name a few. Vlad is also a book author; his book “Establishing SRE Foundations” describes his practical experience in starting the SRE practice. Listen to our conversation on introducing the SRE practice to enterprise organizations.

🙌 Help me spread DevOps ideas even further by nominating the 0800-DEVOPS podcast for DevOps Dozen 2023 award in the “Best DevOps Related Podcast Series (Audio Only)” category. Every nomination vote counts and I truly appreciate it! You can submit your nominations by November 3rd here.

Please leave a review on your favorite podcast platform or Podchaser, and subscribe to 0800-DEVOPS newsletter here.

This interview is featured in 0800-DEVOPS #55 - Establishing SRE Foundations with Vladyslav Ukis.

[Check out podcast chapters if available on your podcast platform or use links below]

(1:32)
Introduction
 
(2:42)
SRE definition
 
(4:35)
Drivers for starting with the SRE practice
 
(6:12)
Organizational buy-in
 
(8:59)
Practical first steps
 
(15:21)
Team coaching during SRE transformation
 
(23:35)
Setting the right SLOs
 
(28:17)
Lessons learned in starting with SRE practice
 
(33:00)
Follow recommendations

This episode is a special one for me since, for the first time, I have a reappearance in the show – my friend Nathen Harvey, the godfather of the DORA community! We talked about the community, the inaugural DORA Summit, and the freshly published 2023 State of DevOps Report. Nathen touched upon a couple of very interesting insights and shared a ton of advice!
An interesting insight is about trunk-based development influencing burnout. Community is working hard to explain this so feel free to join the DORA community trunk-based development discussion that is scheduled for Thursday, December 7 at 6PM UTC. Join the DORA Community of Practice for details and an invitation to the discussion.

Please leave a review on your favorite podcast platform or Podchaser, and subscribe to 0800-DEVOPS newsletter here.

This interview is featured in 0800-DEVOPS #54 - 2023 State of DevOps Report with Nathen Harvey.

[Check out podcast chapters if available on your podcast platform or use links below]

(0:00)
Introduction
 
(1:18)
DORA community
 
(6:49)
2023 State of DevOps Report
 
(28:25)
DORA research and service organizations
 
(31:21)
Accelerate, second edition
 
(34:36)
Follow recommendations

Bryan Finster is a Distinguished Engineer at Defense Unicorns and a relentless searcher for better ways of working – not by following prescribed frameworks but by gaining situational awareness and recognizing specific contextual improvements. We discussed a topic that stirred an otherwise dull summer – McKinsey’s report on measuring developer productivity.

Please leave a review on your favorite podcast platform or Podchaser, and subscribe to 0800-DEVOPS newsletter here.

This interview is featured in 0800-DEVOPS #53 - Measuring developer productivity with Bryan Finster.

[Check out podcast chapters if available on your podcast platform or use links below]

(0:00)
Introduction

(2:40)
McKinsey report on measuring developer productivity

(9:25)
DORA metrics

(11:44)
Using and abusing DORA metrics

(16:14)
Abusing metrics

(17:40)
Improving the organization

(23:30)
Tips on taking metrics

(26:10)
Following recommendations

Jennifer Petoff is the director of Google Cloud Platform & Technical Infrastructure Education, and a co-editor of a super popular book "Site Reliability Engineering".
I met Jennifer at the DevOps Enterprise Summit 2023 conference, where she talked about how each engineer's training needs vary depending on several factors. The talk caught my attention because, let's be honest, who can say that their learning program is so good that they have nothing to learn from Google?

People are different and in different stages of their personal and organizational journey, so they also need different kinds of support. Jennifer likes to address these differences with a 2x2 matrix considering industry experience and familiarity with your organization.

Sometimes, organizations try to apply a one-size-fits-all approach to all quadrants and wonder why the result is missing. The truth is that each quadrant requires a different learning approach.

Listen to my conversation with Dr. J. and learn more about specific techniques for each quadrant.

Please leave a review on your favorite podcast platform or Podchaser, and subscribe to 0800-DEVOPS newsletter here.

This interview is featured in 0800-DEVOPS #52 - Learning organizations with Jennifer Petoff.

[Check out podcast chapters if available on your podcast platform or use links below]

(00:00)
Introduction
 
(2:57)
What are learning organizations
 
(6:06)
Prerequisites for learning organizations
 
(9:07)
Getting a management buy-in
 
(13:25)
Experience-Familiarity matrix
 
(19:20)
Designing a learning program
 
(26:08)
Recommendations