The origins of the DevOps movement are commonly placed around 2009, as the convergence of numerous adjacent and mutually reinforcing movements:
- The Velocity Conference movement, especially the seminal 10 Deploys A Day presentation given by John Allspaw and Paul Hammond. It's long, but you can watch the first 10 mins.
- The “infrastructure as code” movement (Mark Burgess and Luke Kanies), the “Agile infrastructure” movement (Andrew Shafer) and the Agile system administration movement (Patrick DeBois)
- DevOps became an IT grassroots movement [over Twitter]. The movement folks created all new software which had the possibility of helping a lot of people. They were able to get it into big firms and different parts of the firms to create what DevOps is today.
For those of you still trying to figure out this whole DevOps thing, here is a good definition and summary.
What is DevOps?
DevOps is a term for a group of concepts that, while not all new, have catalyzed into a movement and are rapidly spreading throughout the technical community. Like any new and popular term, people may have confused and sometimes contradictory impressions of what it is. Here’s one take on how DevOps can be usefully defined. Like “Quality” or “Agile,” DevOps is a large enough concept that it requires some nuance to fully understand. Continue reading...
Here is a powerpoint slide deck about DevOps that I created, with the help of Nicole Forsgren, a DevOps expert and also a previous Ph.D. student from our MIS dept, and partially based Gene Kim's article on "The Top 11 Things You Need to Know About DevOps" and his co-authored book, all on D2L, Week 11 (and Readings).
ReplyDeleteBackground
ReplyDeleteImagine a world where product owners, Development, QA, IT Operations, and Infosec work together, not only to help each other, but to ensure that the overall organization succeeds. By working toward a common goal, they enable the fast flow of planned work into production (e.g., performing tens, hundreds, or even thousands of code deploys per day), while achieving world-class stability, reliability, availability, and security.
In this world, cross-functional teams rigorously test their hypotheses of which features will most delight users and advance organizational goals. This enables organizations to create a safe system of work, where small teams are able to quickly and independently develop, test, and deploy code and value quickly, safely, securely, and reliably to customers. Simultaneously, QA, IT Operations and Infosec are always working on ways to reduce friction for the team, creating the work systems that enable developers to be more productive and get better outcomes, most of this automated. These are the outcomes that result from DevOps.
But for most of us in IT, this is not the world we live in. More often than not, the system we work in falls short of our true potential. In this world, Development and IT Operations are adversaries; testing and Infosec activities happen only at the end of a project, too late to correct any problems found; and almost any critical activity requires too much manual effort and too many handoffs, leaving us to always be waiting. As a result, we fall short of our goals, and the whole organization is dissatisfied with the performance of IT, resulting in budget reductions and frustrating employees who feel powerless to change the process and its outcomes.
In Chapter 1 of the DevOps Handbook, the authors talk about the Toyota Production System (TPS) and refer to Mike Rother's 2009 book, Toyota Kata: Managing People for Improvement, Adaptiveness and Superior Results, which framed his twenty-year journey to understand and codify the TPS. He concluded that the most important practice of all, which he called the improvement kata, was where every organization has work routines, and the improvement kata requires creating structure for the daily, habitual practice of improvement work, because daily practice is what improves outcomes. The constant cycle of establishing desired future states, setting weekly target outcomes, and the continual improvement of daily work is what guided improvement at Toyota. This is also what defines an innovation culture.
ReplyDelete1. Based on our readings/presentation, what defines an innovation culture? Can you provide an example from the readings or from your own experience that conveys that culture?
2. Refer to the Westrum model and provide an example of the type of company culture that best depicts an innovation culture. What type of company culture did you experience where you worked as an intern or work in your current position (or other experiences). Say why you think so. Reply to this post to answer these questions
1. The core of TPS is "people closest to a problem typically know the most about it" (DevOps Handbook). This is what initiates an innovative culture within a company, having those who do the daily tasks or know the procedure to explore more options on how to make those processes even more efficient. I believe, innovation culture is only possible when employees have the support and that support flows within the company from top-down. As Mike Rother concluded "constant cycle of establishing desired future states, setting weekly target outcomes, and the continual improvement of daily work is what guided improvement at Toyota". Innovation culture requires a constant effort to set goals daily and achieve them in a faster and efficient manner by finding innovative solutions to the hurdles that come along the way.
Delete2. From my internship experience at the City of Tucson (COT), as an governmental organization it depicts the generative type of culture. The City Manager (one of highest position within COT) promotes innovation culture and encourages employees of all levels and departments to streamline processes. Even as an intern I have the support of my manager and colleagues to look into my daily tasks and projects step by step and find any "waste" in the process. I am given the opportunity to question a process and suggest solutions. It is an organization which welcomes new ideas, and where employees are trained through seminars as a generative type of culture suggests.
1) An innovation culture is defined by the employees’ constant attempts to better a system. Employees that are closely working with systems are more likely to know how to improve the workflow as they are more familiar with the process. TPS is an example of an innovation culture and a key item used to create this culture was the Toyota Andon Cord (Chpt 3 DevOps Handbook). This was a cord that every worker was trained to pull to signify when something went wrong. This allowed the manager to immediately isolate and begin work to remedy the issue. Systems like this in a workplace allow for organizational learning and improvements to be found. It is these ideas that are at the core of the innovation culture.
Delete2) My internship this past summer at Goldman Sachs portrayed a mix of a bureaucratic and generative culture. While the organization as a whole seemed more bureaucratic, my department (Private Wealth Management Operations) seemed more generative. The organization did not encourage working with other divisions such as operations working with human capital management or with technology. I often felt a wall between my division of operations and the other divisions found in the firm and a great lack of communication. However, in PWM Operations, we needed to collaborate to succeed and my VPs always welcomed new ideas. It was in PWM Operations that I also experienced an innovation culture. Each intern that came aboard was assigned a project with the goal of finding a new, more efficient way of completing a current task. The department welcomed the fresh set of eyes and greatly utilized us to make improvements and foster innovation.
1. An innovation culture is a company environment that promotes employees to think out of the box and seek out new, unique ways of solving a problem. The company I have interned with, State Farm, creates an innovation culture through the use of 'Hack Day', where Tech employees are encouraged to spend 24 hours straight coming up with ideas to enhance the company and building prototypes. I had the opportunity to do this with the company twice, and even won a prize for my team's idea. It helps the culture because it reminds employees that they have a voice and their thoughts and ideas are appreciated.
Delete2. As I mentioned above, State Farm really took an interest in the way I thought, which I really valued. We also had a generative culture, at least in the Systems Department. It was heavily encouraged to collaborate within your team as well as seeking guidance from other peers to reach success in any project. I loved this culture because I was capable of asking anyone for help or advice and they were more than willing to oblige. I believe the generative and innovation cultures work well together because it allows employees to learn the most they can, through both collaboration as well as through new ways of finding solutions.
I am impressed by the internships, even in some depts and not others, encouraged collaboration, idea generation, daily feedback, challenges, and allowing interns to be a part of that culture. It's hard for me to believe this exists everywhere, but it suggests that some companies are certainly aware of the benefits of innovation, learning, and risk-taking. Given the data, this is still only about 15% of the tech industry. Are you just lucky, or the first to respond?
Delete1.In the DevOps Handbook, a masters student explains how the "Lean community missed the most important practice of all" called the improvement kata (9). An innovative culture is one that fosters growth and improvement of work through a constant cycle. Innovation is goal driven on a weekly or monthly basis. Through my internship this summer at Protiviti, I experienced a highly innovative culture. Each intern is provided with three levels of mentor, an executive advisor, career advisor and a peer mentor. This allowed for goals to be set and transparency that I was seeking a full time job offer out of the internship. They were able to guide me to make the right professional decisions in order to make that happen. In addition, it was a very open environment where I was able to ask questions on various infrastructure systems for one of the biggest airline companies in the world. It was complex, however each lead for the team spent the time to break down components and allowed me to be innovative when running tests. This fostered efficiency and timeliness.
DeleteIn addition, the reading described Toyota as a company that was constantly improving. He described the environment as shocking when compared to other companies. Rother described this situation as being “puzzled when non of the companies adopting these practices replicated the level of performance observed at the Toyota plants” (9). This shows that Toyota was exceeding his expectations as an entry level
2.The Westrum model focuses on three types of organizations: pathological, bureaucratic and generative. A company that depicts an accurate description of an innovative culture would be one that is generative. I experienced this at both of my internship experiences. Generative focuses on transparency between teams, trust, and high cooperation. At Protiviti, most team members got to sit in on all client meetings, if I was not present, my team lead would fill me in on what had happened and vice versa. In addition, this was seen from the top levels down. We were always filled in on the other projects others were working on and the trends they saw across that could be applied to our own projects.
My internship last summer was with a production agency that produced high fashion editorials and advertising campaigns. I would also say that this environment was highly innovative because I worked closely with the owners and producers to ensure the highest quality of service for our clients. Many of our clients and partners we worked with were celebrity photographers, actors or well-known people of the high-fashion industry. We were always thinking of ways to improve the office environment to make it easier for information to be shared. Everyone sat at one large desk that faced on another, which allowed for listening in on calls. Very rarely was there something that the team did not know.
1) An innovative culture is an idea that new and innovative ideas can come from anyone in an organization, not just top management. Innovative culture is successful in highly competitive markets since these markets are rapidly changing. These types of cultures value their employees based off of their creative ability and how they can differentiate themselves from their competitors, rather than traditional evaluations of on-time delivery and revenue generation. Innovation cultures in IT tend to embrace digital business processes, create an IT innovation lab to spur new innovative ideas, and reward employees for experimentation. While innovative cultures can be hard to create and sustain, management experts have said that innovative culture is crucial to establishing competitive differentiation and competitive advantage in a market. An example of innovation culture from one of the readings is the Toyota Kata (DevOps Handbook Ch. 1, Page 6). Mike Rother wrote “Toyota Kata: Managing People for Improvement, Adaptiveness, and Superior Results”. His report concluded that “the lean community missed the most important practice of all, which he called improvement kata” (DevOps Ch. 1, 6). Improvement kata focuses on creating structure for daily improvement work since daily practice is what ultimately improves outcomes. Toyota improvement was guided by establishing desired future states, setting weekly target outcomes, and continuous improvement of daily work.
Delete2) The Westrum model mentions pathological (power-oriented), bureaucratic (rule-oriented), and generative (performance-oriented) culture. I think the one that best depicts an innovative culture is the generative culture since it focuses on information flow, high cooperation and trust, team communication, and conscious inquiry. This summer I interned at TeamBuilder KW, a real estate company in Kirkland, WA. Working as a market analyst, I worked with all of the account managers, marketing directors, CFO and president. Since the company was not that large, everyone in the office collaborated with each other on a daily basis. I would say that the work environment was highly collaborative, and pretty innovative. The practice was unique since it provided end-to-end consulting for builders (pricing strategies, marketing, sales associates, financing assistance). The practice is innovative since it is one of the only real estate team’s that provides builders with the tools needed to build, price, sell, and finance homes. Instead of having to use multiple sources to sell a lot of 70 plus homes, TeamBuilder provided builders with a one stop shop.
1. An innovation culture is one where people have the ability to consistently work together, and is best when they can work closely together because as others have said they are the ones that work with the systems the most. Chapter 2 talks about the loss of knowledge with the more "handoffs" you have in a process. I think this is important to note because the loss of knowledge is certainly not innovative. With an innovative culture you want employees working closely with each other to create that goal driven culture. I think the more innovative companies you hear about are the ones that allow and support their employees to freely work together to make improvements on their current systems/processes and reduce things like the number of “hand offs” needed in a process.
Delete2. With the Westrum model, I agree with the others and would say that the generative model is the best description of an innovative culture. That being said, my internship experience with Honeywell would align with the generative model. I would day this because I worked on a team that encouraged me from the beginning to speak up when I had any ideas. I was a fresh set of eyes to the team and they wanted to know what I was thinking about their processes and how they could improve. Something I enjoyed about our meetings was the fact that they were so open, we could discuss ideas both good and bad and work through what we needed to find the best solutions. Finally, I also had the opportunity to work with the fellow interns on an ‘intern project’ where we were given only a few rules to follow and could be as innovative with the project as we wanted. The project showed us the investment Honeywell was making in the “younger” talent and it allowed us to experience that innovative culture on a large organization scale.
1.) I think what defines an innovation culture are the people in within an organization. The DevOps Handbook mentions leaders and their teams working together to find problems and resolve them. Of course, this depends on the employees, but it can be implemented. The book also mentions Alcoa increasing competitive advantage through innovation culture. Employees reported injuries and near-injuries, reducing workplace accidents and finding ways to improve processes and their product.
Delete2.) In my experience working at the University, I think right now it’s more of a bureaucratic organization overall, but it may transition to a generative-type culture in a couple of years. Departments and teams work together occasionally on projects and share information, yet they remain separate from each other. I think the biggest thing that will have to change is how failure is handled, since both people and departments are very role-based and hierarchical, creating that system of judgement the book mentions.
1. Using employees to their fullest potential by allowing them to realize the need of the company and invite them to be a part of the brainstorming process which will add value to areas they are more knowledgeable and eventually spark an interest to become more involved in the process. Often when employees get shot down by middle management when it comes to idea sharing they become to discouraged to participate in future planning. It is important for a company to allow room for growth when it comes to innovation as well as allowing a platform to share these ideas, so employees feel they are being recognized for all that they bring to the table. Another important idea is to bring incentive from upper level staff to ensure employees of their position in a company which is relative to growth and addition of value of the company’s progress. Also, employees need the right tools to prosper whether its via continuing education or by obtaining new software and knowledge, companies can really help to guide them in the right direction by facilitating the necessary requirements
Delete2. My professional experience is in Pharmacy as a Senior Pharmacy technician for over 12 years. The work environment was set in a satellite outpatient pharmacy at the Arizona Cancer Center. In my department we functioned as a bureaucratic division. We had a Director of Pharmacy at the main hospital campus who lead above Pharmacy Managers at each satellite location. The main hospital was the only location who had Pharmacy Technician Managers and then at each satellite pharmacy there were technicians level 1,2 and 3. In this order if there were issues in the day to day work flow it would be brought to the Technician Manager at main campus and straight to Pharmacy Managers at the other locations. In my experience I feel like a had more room to share and brainstorm with the Technician Managers at the main location and later the Pharmacy manager at the satellite location. Most ideas and issues when it came to innovation of process was usually easily addressed at the next level status for resolution. Although the larger the issue or idea the higher up the ladder we’d have to climb for addressing and approval. This normally took weeks or months to finally implement and over time became very discouraging. Often time these ideas were overlooked and some things never got better until serious issues resulted from the delay. I certainly agree that if an employee had availability and easy access to process resolution they would be more apt to engaging in the long-term innovation and sustainability process.
1.An innovation culture is one that fosters growth and improvement of work through a constant cycle. It promotes employees to always continue learning and actively try new things. One of the company’s that I interned with, Govig and Associates, conveyed this culture through the final project for the internship. We literally had to present to C-level executives a process we thought we could improve at the company. The winning presentation and the “improved” process would then be implemented the following week.
Delete2.The Westrum model talks about three types of organizations: pathological, bureaucratic and generative. I had never worked with a company more transparent in everything that they do than Govig and Associates. It really connected the idea of a generative, and in turn, innovation culture when I thought back. As interns we had 1v1 meetings with a new executive every week and we were able to ask them any questions we wanted. We even talked about exactly the amount of money they made, they should be their statements and collections. If I had any reservations at all about working there they wanted me to put them on the table and talk about them. Furthermore, we were allowed to sit in on any and all meetings no matter who they were with, or what they were talking about.
1. Innovation culture is a group of people that have the ability to create a new idea and keep it updated. The idea is not limited to creating the new project but all the improvement of a working process including problem solving, and all the people in this group are able to work together consistently. I used to work at one of the best financial ERP software company in China. They have specific separation of different department and work. I was in the department of operation management. In the department, we have the accountant, bus manager, id card manager, and so on. The problem always came all the way around. If a big issue occurred, all of us help that person to figure it out. Because not all the problem happened in the professional field and we are able to use our perspective to help, the efficiency was improved a lot. I think this is a way that conveys that culture.
Delete2. Refer to the Westrum model, there are three types of organizations: pathological, bureaucratic, and generative. It described the generative organization as “performance-oriented” in the article, and this just perfectly matched with the company I’ve worked at. From my perspective, the company I used to work at should be defined as the generative one. As I described in the first paragraph, there is high cooperation between people and different groups in tech-department and operation department. Because the staff in the company is over 20,000, the ways to organize the company structure and keep the efficiency of each department are important. The leader of the company believes that the best way to balance those two directions and to keep the innovation is to make the company work as group – could be either big group or small groups, and he wishes this “group-working” style can help the company to keep innovation of the software and improve the efficiency of the operating process.
1. An innovation culture defined is upper management influencing innovation and ideas on a personal level in a business environment. These key executives and managers play a large roll in influencing their employees and colleagues, thus by them supporting an innovative environment a more positive and lively outcome will arise. In order for an Innovation culture to be fully present, it must come from top down management. This type of implementation always has a more receptive audience, given it is preached from trusted superiors. I belive innovation is a very important facet of a thriving business. This summer I interned with IBM in their Cyber Security sector and saw many innovations that are in the works. One innovation I was happy to be working with is IBM’s popular Artificial Intelligence platform- Watson. This tool is used in many industries, and for a large array of uses. Watson is a great tool for data analytics, and is constantly evolving every day. From the day I entered the internship, to the day I finished I saw two very different Watson tools, as it was constantly changing and being improved. This would not have been possible if it weren’t for the Watson Innovation team, that I am so fortunate to have had a small part of.
Delete2. The Westrum typology model utilizes three distinctive cultures; Pathological, Bureaucratic, and Generative. Generative is described as a culture that focuses on the mission of the company, and addressing how it is possible to accomplish their goal. I believe a Generative approach best sums up the culture needed for an innovative environment to thrive. Being driven, goal oriented, and passionate are all necessary traits for an innovative individual. At my internship with IBM, I definitely saw a generative environment. This culture aligns with my personal views as well, being determined, goal oriented, and motivated are all traits I live by. This was great that IBM had a similar viewpoint on this culture, which helped me thrive greatly. I was able to exercise my goal driven approach in many ways, because leaders and managers set precise and reachable goals weekly or monthly relating to the tasks at hand.
1. As far as I am concerned, an innovation culture of a company refers to the one that encourages all employees to actively observe what company can be improved and generate some innovative ideas to address that improvement. Innovation culture can increase the efficiency because it allows employees to actively offer suggestions to top managers and communicate unique ideas with employees from other departments. By mixing innovative ideas from different departments, company could create comprehensive plans to meet as many potential needs as it wants. Meanwhile, innovation culture is a continuous process, requiring everyone in company to update ideas constantly probably every month. Even though I don't have that much experience with a real organization that encourages a innovation culture, I read an online article that describes how Google, one of the most innovative companies around the world, creates channels for employees to convey innovative ideas. Google has over 30,000 employees and builds various channels: Google Cafes, Google Moderator (a tool that allows employees to share questions), and a bunch of other tools that allows employees to directly question the top leader.
Delete2. The Westrum model provides examples of three types of organizations: Pathological, bureaucratic, and generative organization. I believe that generative organization best describes an innovative culture. In a generative organization, both novelty and failure are encouraged; therefore, employees are more willing to implement innovative ideas. This type of company is more likely to have ingenious products than other two types of company. Google, one of generative company, aims to eliminate traditional views of hierarchy in an organization, creating various tools to build innovative culture. Google Moderator is designed by Google’s engineers, aiming to allows employees to post questions to top leaders and share ideas or suggestions with others. Google Moderator is also one of Google’s “20 percent” project, which is a proposal that allow engineers to spend 20% of their work time per week on desired projects. By doing so, Google can cultivate innovative culture and boost ingenious products frequently.
1. Innovation culture is defined through a spectrum of adaptive practices and unorthodox ideas implemented by an organization. Implementing an innovative culture can exist through all levels of an organization from the worker to upper management. In some cases, an innovative culture may not need management at all and uses holocracy to keep the organization running. Holocracy can be practiced through self-management in two functions; strategic meetings that adjust operations on a day-to-day basis, and governance meetings that adjust's how employees manage the organization. One example of a company that is doing this is Zappos, the online retailer known for their unorthodox and innovative culture. The company uses peer-to-peer management and steps away from the orthodox pyramid hierarchy seen across the business world. Although they still have supervisors, the power dynamic changes to give all employees the ability to enhance practices from the lowest level. The controversial method of holocracy enables Zappos to constantly develop and innovate their systems in place, while being flexible enough to change what doesn't work.
DeleteRelevant Link: http://searchcio.techtarget.com/feature/Flap-over-Zappos-holacracy-puts-spotlight-on-bossless-workplace
2. Referring to the Westrum model, generative organizational cultures can be found in many software and IT companies like Google, Amazon, IBM, or Zappos. The companies are performance driven and emphasize ideas over maintaining power structures. Its fairly obvious that generative organizational cultures will be leading the future in terms of DevOps.
In my experience as a student worker for the University of Arizona, I experienced a bureaucratic organizational culture. The day-to-day operations with paperwork and accounting for purchases was strictly set by fiscal year budgets, government regulations, and policies determined by the department's upper management. Since the University doesn't set their goals in profits and focuses in research goals, the type of work is very limited in terms of innovation for conducting the footwork of day to day operations. On the positive end, my manager tries to give her student workers the ability to optimize processes where their is lack of regulation or oversight.
1. An innovation culture is defined by the resources and processes in place that allow the people to innovate. In an innovation culture, employees are encouraged to continually seek feedback and inquire about ways to do better. There is a high degree of cooperation and information flow across the organization. Additionally, there is generally a lot of experimentation and testing. For instance, an example of an innovation culture is Intuit. Intuit advocates for every employee to be able to do rapid experiments. Amazingly, they once completed 165 experiments in a three-month period (Kim). Innovation cultures are also fueled by creativity and the desire to continuously learn and improve. Amazon is an example of a company who strives for this. An innovation culture can be characterized by many things. Some building blocks for an innovation culture include continuous delivery processes and lean management practices. These help promote and drive innovation.
Delete2. The type of company culture that best depicts an innovation culture – according to the Westrum model – is a generative (performance-oriented) culture. In this type of culture, there is a good flow of information throughout the organization. Employees trust each other and are highly cooperative. Moreover, risks are shared across the organization and teams bridge together. Failure in this type of culture leads to inquiry about ways to improve. More important are the things that this type of culture is not. It is not a culture where novelty is discouraged, where cooperation is rare, where responsibilities are few, or where failure leads to pointing fingers.
I worked as an intern for PetSmart over the summer at their home office in Phoenix. From my 9 weeks there, I got a sense that the culture is slowly trying to change into a more innovative culture, but it is nowhere near it yet. They are trying to use agile methodologies (e.g., daily standups), which is good, but I did not see any signs of an innovative culture. It appears they have long timelines for changes and do not have many continuous deployments or improvements. They do however have a DevOps team, but I was not a part of this team or in cooperation with them. From what I could observe it appeared there was some cooperation between teams but not a lot. There was not a lot of communication flow between teams either; in fact, teams felt very separated from each other. I can confidently identify PetSmart as a bureaucratic (rule-oriented) cultured organization. The organization as a whole is highly dictated by rules and positions and there is strong departmental separation. There appears to be little novelty, modest cooperation, and narrow responsibilities given to employees.
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1. Innovation culture can be described in an array of ways. The reality of the TPS was an efficient process in order to stick out from the rest of the world. The mindset and goals they had been working towards was to accomplish something that other's should take note in their operational processes. According to Chapter 1 of the DevOps Handbook, "The constant cycle of establishing desired future states, setting weekly target outcomes, and the continual improvement of daily work is what guided improvement at Toyota." Innovation culture can be seen as the overall operations that go into a company, from the atmosphere of people working together to the decor that fits the company's personality. The goal of being a innovative culture is one that many can find as admirable and worthy to follow.
Delete2. This past summer working at American Express, the innovative culture was something progressive to think about. Over the years the company had transitioned from cubicles to open working spaces in order to make it a more collaborative environment. There are so many people in the office that not everyone knows each other, as some are friendly and others not so much. The decor part of innovative culture that I had mentioned about was nothing too extreme, but set the mood of a very historical and modern company. Focusing on the Westrum Model, I believe my internship experience was very generative. I find this because there are numerous teams within the company, but the team you work directly with really has your back on all the projects. One thing that I particularly enjoyed was American Express being a huge fan of Agile. Daily-standups played a crucial part in making sure everyone was on the same page of the projects that were currently being focused on. Communication was a huge aspect and I never felt short of being left out on information as everything was very organized.
1. An innovation culture is culture that fosters creativity on the grand scale. This can include making new products or services or building off of current ones. Having the resources and people behind advancing the company is key to supporting an innovative culture. This includes things like having diverse teams. Team members should have different backgrounds, skill sets, ideas, mentalities, and abilities. Innovation cannot develop if no one is questioning the status quo. Many technological advances were not even thoughts just a couple decades ago, and now they are mainstream. Being able to be forward-looking can definitely convey an innovative culture.
Delete2.Based off of the Westrum model, an example of the type of company culture that best depicts an innovation culture is a company that is generative in my opinion. I feel that it is the best type of organization to foster a “free-spirited” environment, which in my opinion, is what best leads to new ideas being created. When I interned at MGM Resorts International last summer, I felt that it definitely incorporated a generative environment. They had goals that were always at the forefront of their operations. There were financial goals, social goals, and overall growth goals that I felt made for a very generative feel to the culture as the diverse teams that I was a part of had to come up with unique solutions to implement.
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Delete1. An innovative culture is one that constantly provokes thought and forward thinking. When one thinks of innovation they think of something that has never been done before. A lot of companies go through the motions everyday and never ask the question "Why?" "Why are we using this system/doing things the way that we do/etc." I think a great company to model an innovative culture after is Amazon. They started out as a book company, and now are one of the world's largest companies coming out with new ideas such as the Echo, Amazon Key, and Drone delivery. Harvard Business Review came out with three ideas/ways a company can implement an innovative culture and there are: 1. Give employees demanding projects 2. Match demanding problems with employee skill sets 3. Shoot for 70% project success. I think if a company can implement these ideas, even if the projects fail, it will provoke thought and push the company into a forward thinking monster.
Delete2. This past summer I interned at Insight Enterprises, Inc. as a project management intern in their Project Management Department. I believe Insight falls under the Generative culture according to Westrum's model. As a part time summer employee and intern, my manager could have just given me busy work or work he didn't feel like doing, but he actively sought my input during team meetings and conference calls. As a fresh set of eyes, I was able to identify different ways of doing things, and he actually implemented some of my ideas into his team, which was very rewarding.
1. An innovation culture is defined by constantly finding new ways of conducting business. For me, one of the most important ways of finding new ways of “doing things” is found by conducting rapid experimentation and collaboration. The DevOps Handbook, and other associated readings constantly discussed the friction between development and operations. Before DevOps was founded, these two business units were identified as not working well together. Through collaboration and experimentation, a solution was found, creating a best practice for other organizations to follow or risk losing it all. It is extremely important for organizations to foster a innovation culture in order to keep up with technological changes, and remain relevant in the marketplace.
Delete2. I work in a business unit that manages many innovative ideas. Any changes to an Intuit produce or process can be submitted to the Customer Experience Lab to get an understanding of the customer’s opinion to the change. Innovation does not stop at this business unit. Like the reading says, Intuit expects all their employees to be trained in innovation and rapid experimentation. Once a month, I am placed on teams to solve customer problems through rapid experimentation. This includes making changes to the product, engaging customers for their opinions, and pivoting on ideas. This concept makes Intuit the innovative company it is today, and provides an answer to a recent article titled Why Isnt Intuit Dead from Fortune Magazine.
Delete1.) What is there that is left to be discussed for defining cultural innovation? All these posts above mine are so informational and so well written (I guess that’s what I get for being a procrastinator). Rather than defining cultural innovation for the 500th time, I’m going to jump right into my own personal experience. Working for the UA Bookstores for two years as both a sales associate and an aasistant manager, I was able to experience cultural innovation from different perspectives on both the giving and receiving ends of ideas. It might seem difficult at first to imagine that such an organiztion like our very own University of Arizona Bookstore would be so adept with an innovative culture. Why, dealing with angry customers who would agrue that today was a Bear Down sale when it was actually yesterday, or getting cursed out by students who gladly turned their frustration towards my staff and I because paying $1200 for a semester’s worth of textbooks was “a load of horse sh*t,” were typical, everyday occurances at the bookstore. But not all of my experiences here were always bad; there was always room for improvement though. The bookstore continuously practiced cultural innovation with monthly staff meetings, transparency between departments, one large staff meeting for all employees and managers the bookstore oversaw, and even the Director of the UA Bookstores, Debbie Shively, would swing by every now and then to listen to our ideas. I had the pleasure of pitching and receiving ideas as both an employee and a manager respectively. Talking to my manager about new ways to organize our textbooks or backstock, or receiving silimar ideas and what departments should be where or what we could do to drive in more customers on gamedays, these interactions created an innovative culture in our bookstore and in others. So whether these interactions were about what we were doing well or what we could improve upon, the UA Bookstores has continued to practice cultual innovation without ever coining the term.
2.) My current position as a Resident Assistant for the University of Arizona’s Housing and Residential Life department is a great example of an organization with an innovative culture. There is a lot of autonomy that comes with being an RA as returning RAs and new RAs typically throw ideas off one another whether it’s improving check-in/check-out systems for residents, creating new, original programs for residents, or thinking of new ways to approach residents about conflicts or just their everyday lives in general.
1. An innovative culture is a result of a company that allows inventive and visionary thinking. Based on the DevOps reading, it seems that companies who have successfully created an innovative culture value the ideas of both top leadership and lower level employees. Employees of an open environment are more likely to come forward with and feel confident in pitching their innovative ideas. Usually, innovative cultures are competing in markets that are rapidly changing. Therefor the success of these companies depends on the ideas and input of their staff. This summer I interned for a law firm in Seattle, which is growing as well as trying to expand their IT department. Over the course of the internship, I was tasked with anything from network administration duties to information security and more. For our final task, each intern was asked to present one plan that would improve their technology department. Some interns addressed network admin efficiency while others presented ideas for new pay-roll/scheduling software. All of our suggestions were taken into account and many were implemented.
Delete2. The Westrum model is defined by three categories: pathological, bureaucratic, and generative. A generative company is performance-oriented and most accurately depicts an innovative culture. This type of company supports good information flow, high cooperation and trust, bridging between teams and a conscious inquiry. Although I wish to have worked for a company like this, I feel the law firm for which I interned is better described as a bureaucratic business. Although the top management asked for the intern’s opinions on how to better improve their technology department, I heard that was the first ever attempt to make a change. This law firm was very busy and each attorney was pre-occupied with their case work and meetings. Responsibilities were completely compartmentalized, specifically the IT sector. The overall mission of each employee depended on which type of department they were located in. Next time, I’d like to try being apart of a generative company.
1. Innovation culture is defined by inspiring and fostering the ground level employees to find ways to better a system. The ground level employees are the closest to the problem, so they would know the most about it and how to possibly improve the system. Toyota is an example from the reading where employees are encouraged, through many different programs, to improve processes and or products daily. Employees accomplish this by innovating better or more efficient ways to perform their jobs. From my own personal experience USAA fosters an innovation culture through a constant department and program called USAA LABS. Employees in the department utilize new technology to innovate new or better ways to perform different company jobs or improve the member’s experience. For all employees not in the department, and members of USAA, USAA LABS is a posting board for new innovative ideas to improve customer experience, process flow, or come up with new products or services. During my internship I submitted an idea to USAA LABS and was awarded because the idea was accepted and taken to the implementation phase.
Delete2. I think a generative culture is the most supportive Westrum model for an innovative culture. I interned at USAA and they have a very strong generative culture. While working at USAA everyone is focused on our company mission. It is not just a slogan people say, it is the driving force behind everything we do. Every employee knows how their role and job impacts the mission and performance of the organization. Providing the best possible service to the member is the focus of every decision that is made. I experienced this in the MSR Lab where I worked. All of us in the MSR Lab understood how our projects affected and reached the members. We all worked together and collaborated even when we were not working on the same jobs. The culture was very team oriented and highly corporative. I believe it is this type of culture that has led to USAA having a high employee retention rate and tenure.
1. Innovation culture is a culture based on a company encouraging their employees to take risks in order to accomplish breakthroughs and innovative products. Innovation comes from and can be promoted by collaboration, encouraging employees to think like entrepreneurs and balancing the organizations operations with innovation. To create an innovative culture, it is important for employees to have managements support to be innovative and foster an innovative environment. My internship at Northwestern Mutual did portray an innovative culture to an extent. My manager would often encourage me and the other interns to try and think outside of the box to come up with solutions to problems and he would always support our decisions and innovative actions. He would facilitate small sessions to meet with employees to come up with innovative ideas for problems and work as a team to come up with new solutions to overcome them.
Delete2. Referring to the Westrum model, I believe that the type of company culture that best depicts innovation is the generative organization. This is the type of culture that I worked in last summer as an intern for Northwestern Mutual. Working there we had many goals that we needed to accomplish and there was a lot of focus put on accomplishing that mission. There was a lot of team work involved in the work we did. There was always at least two people that would collaborate on a task to be able to share different ideas and viewpoints and come up with innovative solutions and ideas. Because of this there are risks that are shared between the employees and the culture was performance oriented. There were also many different specialists in and out of the office so bridging between teams was very common and helpful.
1. An innovation culture holds their employees and shareholders accountable through metrics. These metrics include value creation and competitive differentiation. Companies that possess these cultures are beginning to stray away from traditional metrics, such as on-time delivery and revenue generation. The derivative of innovation culture is innovative thinking, which encourages discovery and ways to reward time spent on individual projects. Innovation culture, specifically in IT organizations, embraces digital, establishes an innovation lab, and enables and rewards experimentation. Going digital shifts from traditional business processes, practices and platforms to digitalized ones. An innovation lab allows for IT and the business to collaborate and focus on the development of information technologies. Enabling and rewarding experimentation simply allows employees to experiment in the workplace, potential resulting in new business practices, such as data discovery in a big data environment. An example of a company raising an innovation culture is Google. This technology giant cultivated a “20% time” policy, which allows employees to spend one-fifth of their work week on personal projects, possibly leading to discoveries and innovation.
Delete2. My summer internship at Freeport-McMoRan displayed a generative learning model. Data analytics is the process of forming a hypothesis and testing that idea. If it weren’t for new and innovative ideas, the analysis would cease to develop. The most difficult aspect, however, was to communicate these new discoveries to the business. This process was to explain technical concepts to a non-technical audience, which can be problematic in some departments.
1. Innovation culture is seen when employees are encouraged to find ways to improve the system they work in to better complete their work. One of the greatest examples of a company that puts this into practice is Amazon. When Amazon first started, they had dedicated servers and they were not able to perfectly guess the amount of stock that they would need in a certain warehouse. An effect of this was that Amazon was not able to handle the Christmas shopping season and their site would crash regularly. Amazon recently moved to the Amazon Web Services cloud which allows engineers to scale up or down depending on the situation. This spurred the creation of a continuous development process and last year Amazon engineers were deploying code at an average of a new line of code every 11.7 seconds. (Techbeacon.com)
Delete2. I would say that General Dynamics according to the Westrum model would be considered Bureaucratic and Generative. While much of the work is done in their given departments, there is also quite a bit of collaboration and teamwork that happens daily. When working in the IT department I was never looking for help too long before I was able to find someone. I don’t think that the employees at GD have “little concern for the overall mission of the organization” because they were all passionate about the large projects that their organization was taking on. There were also plenty of online communication tools that I not only needed to use, but most of my work was with improving the online communication tools and databases.
1. I see an innovation culture as one that is continually improving, both from the ground up and top down. Innovation can only be fostered if the whole of the company is involved from the lowest worker to the CEO. As mentioned by many of my classmates and the readings, the most innovative ideas stem for the operations level of the company. Ideas generated by the people with hands on experience, those who are involved in the actual process tend to drive the biggest changes in the company. But, those changes can only be implemented if the higher-level management is willing to listen and act. I he had opportunity to help in the design and implementation of two different pharmacy remodels. During the remodels, suggestion from my co-workers and myself were implement in to the pharmacy layouts to improve workflow and change processes. Through these innovations the pharmacy was about to reduce waste and decrease the amount of staff need to operate. If the upper-level management has not been receptive to the ideas generated by the frontline workers the pharmacies would have still been redesign but with no significant improvements.
Delete2. I have spent the past 8 years working for the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, and as in most government run operations, the VA is both Bureaucratic and Pathological. The Bureaucratic approach is loved by governments and most lager organizations. The rules-oriented method in need to keep order in such a large organization. The Pathological approach can inadvertently be cultivated in the bureaucratic system, as the higher up the ladder a person climbs the less whiling there are to cooperate. In my department, we had to work with every other hospital department, because they relied on us to accomplish their duties. This allowed for my department managers to be more pathological and want to control the whole process. They would implement changes with no regarded as to how other departments would be impacted. Those actions made for a contentious workplace.
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Delete1. Establishing an innovative culture is critical to the success of companies in creating and developing new products and processes that benefit their organization. There are several aspects that define an innovative culture according to the DevOps slide deck, created by Dr. Suzie Weisband and Nicole Forsgren, including high cooperation, messengers that are trained, risks that are shared, bridging that is encouraged, failure that leads to inquiry, and novelty that is implemented. An example of an organization that conveys this culture is Amazon. A quote from Greg Linden, Principal Data Scientist, Experimentation in AI & Research, says that "I think building this culture is the key to innovation. Creativity must flow from everywhere. Whether you are a summer intern or the CTO, any good idea must be able to seek an objective test, preferably a test that exposes the idea to real customers. Everyone must be able to experiment, learn, and iterate." In just 2016 alone, Amazon's North America sales increased 25.2% in 2016 (The Motley Fool). This is due to their commitment to driving innovation through their culture.
Delete2. According to the Westrum model, the type of company culture that best depicts an innovation culture is one that is generative (performance-oriented). The identifiers of this type of culture include good information flow, high cooperation and trust, bridging between teams, and conscious inquiry. At my previous internship at ServiceNow, was fortunate enough to experience a generative culture. The team that I was working with had adopted the Agile methodology for their software development and deployments. This meant that continuous changes were welcomed to address customer requirements. Another large part of the culture was instilling open and honest communication of progress in daily stand-ups and sprint meetings. This allowed for good information flow, high cooperation and trust, and conscious inquiry so that innovative solutions could be built more efficiently and effectively. Additionally, the dev team worked cross-functionally with other dev and product teams to ensure best practices and an integrated understanding of the direction of the product throughout the organization.
What defines innovation culture is a constant desire to always improving and learning upon the methods that are in place. With employees being so close to and interacting with the system day in and day out, they are at the forefront for how it should best be optimized for use, and what could be improved to better the overall process. As Mike Rother notes in his excerpt, “every organization has work routines, and the improvement kata requires creating structure for the daily habitual practice of improvement work, because daily practice is what improves outcomes” (Chpt 1 DevOps Handbook). This is just one of many different approaches to innovation culture. There is always going to be constant improvement to the systems in place as well as a results-driven structure that always aims to achieve goals.
DeleteWhen looking at the Westrum model, the type of culture that best outlines innovation culture is a Generative culture. This focuses on collaboration amongst teams, as well as collectively succeeding as well as failing. In my internship at CrowdStrike, we very much used this same model in our day to day operations. Everything was always team oriented with the company as a whole, and even in our intern team this held true. We were always working together, not against each other, to learn how to better improve the overall processes that we in place, and learn from each other through our success and our failures. Every day, our boss would always take 15-20 minutes to check in with us to see how things are going, what is going well, and what could be improved upon. We could always go to her, or anyone in the company for that matter if we had a question or just needed to seek more clarification and guidance on something.
1. Innovation cultures are driven primarily by the people. It starts at the top with executive level management and trickles its way down through the rest of the organization. Doctor Ishak at McKinsey & Company states, “…you must ground creative people in accountability for the organization’s objectives, key focus areas, core capabilities, and commitments to stakeholders”(2017). If executives are too focused on budgets and meeting deadlines, employees will feel less motivated to be creative and innovative within their own positions, killing ideas before they can ever get off the ground. However, if the executives are to focus on the areas highlighted by Doctor Ishak and set a tone for an innovative culture, employees will feel as if they have the freedom to be more creative and give them a sense of accountability to further innovation in the organization. Each year, JPMorgan hosts a variety of different hackathons open to the public and their own employee’s so that they can come together collaborate on projects that would help the community and further the company’s innovation culture.
Delete2. According to the Westrum Model, the most ideal company culture to foster innovation is a generative culture. With a generative culture, there is goo information flow, high cooperation and trust, bridging between teams, and conscious inquiry. This past summer, I interned with JPMorgan Chase & Co. (JPMC) as a member of the firms Consumer and Community Banking division. To me, it seemed as if the firm had both a bureaucratic and generative culture. Working in such a highly regulated industry, it makes sense that JPMC would be very rule-oriented. In fact, it was highly discouraged for us to talk to other teams about projects that our team was working on. However, my team was very generative, and my boss would often times ask me for my opinion during meetings and really valued what I had to say.
Link(s):
https://www.mckinsey.com/business-functions/strategy-and-corporate-finance/our-insights/creating-an-innovation-culture
1. An innovative culture is one that supports and encourage idea generation and creations from all levels in an organization. In our reading about the agile methodology, we’ve learned how agile incorporates multiple perspectives and team members in the product/system development cycle. A particularly important part of the agile methodology is incorporating the consumers of the end product (the users). During the USAA guest lecture, we learned how USAA solicits user input through their test labs both externally (to the consumer apps) and internally with any software created for their customer service representative. This type of agile approach how enabled an innovative culture, allowing the inputs and ideas from the end user to ultimately create better software that meets the expectations of the user.
Delete2. Based on the Westrum Model, organizations that are generative will provide the means to develop an innovative culture. I think an organization that encourages an innovative culture is Microsoft. For example, Microsoft has developed a program through their organization in support of grass root projects that their employees took on themselves. This encouraged members across the organizations to help and develop their skills and ultimately produce products and applications for Microsoft. This past summer at Goldman Sachs, I thought the type of organizational culture I experienced was generative. Goldman is a flat organization, meaning my boss and my boss’s boss all worked next to or near me. They constantly stress teamwork and encourage cross collaboration of different teams and divisions. I was able to experience this first hand through my summer long project which required speaking to a number of different teams and divisions in order to develop and deliver a final recommendation to my manager.
1. Innovation culture is defined as a “safe system of work” (DevOps Handbook). Innovation culture is one that supports creativity, flexibility, and ingenuity. As Bethany Macri said, “‘by removing blame, you remove fear; by removing fear, you enable honesty…’” (DevOps Handbook,2016). Dr. Spear elaborated on the benefits of innovation culture by saying “‘organizations become ever more self-diagnosing and self-improving, skilled at detecting problems [and] solving them’” (DevOps Handbook,2016). When you allow employees to be themselves and explore their skills and ideas without fear, great things can occur. As discussed in our readings, DevOps enables innovation because it encourages development employees and operational employees to work together, not in silos. By supporting collaborative work and not simply focusing on “the code”, or the pre-determined job descriptions of development and operations, everybody can work together and bounce ideas off one another to deliver the best product possible (What is DevOps, 2017).
DeleteI experienced an innovative culture when I worked for Avnet in Phoenix, Arizona. Avnet is constantly working to think outside the box to develop new products and solutions for their clients. In doing this, Avnet has become a highly reputable company in their pursuit of excellent supply chain distribution and solution implementation.
2. A great example of an innovation culture is Google. Google takes pride in inspiring workers. The office has pool tables, collaboration rooms, groundbreaking technology, and slides. Google wants its employees to feel inspired. The Senior VP of Google’s People Operations has said “We try to have as many channels for expression as we can, recognizing that different people, and different ideas, will percolate up in different ways” (He, 2013). Some additional tools specifically used to enable collaboration and innovation include: Google Cafes, Google Moderator, Google+ conversations. Google Moderator allows engineers to spend 20% of their work week on projects they want to pursue personally (He, 2013).
This past summer I interned at JPMorgan Chase & Co. I would describe the culture of my office as bureaucratic based on the Westrum model. Because JPMorgan is a large and widely known company within the financial services industry, they are under strict compliance requirements by federal agencies. It is important that companies like this adhere to the carefully designed procedures to avoid any legal issues. There were strict procedures in place to protect the security of the data, systems, and company overall. Although generally bureaucratic, teams that were working on the same projects were encouraged to use a generative culture mindset to think outside the box and find an effective solution.
He, Laura. (2013, April 01). Google's Secrets Of Innovation: Empowering Its Employees. Retrieved November 17, 2017
Kim, G., Debois, P., Willis, J., Humble, J., & Allspaw, J. (2016). The DevOps handbook: how to create world-class agility, reliability, and security in technology organizations. Portland, OR: IT Revolution Press, LLC.
What Is DevOps? (2017, September 29). Retrieved November 17, 2017
1) An innovative culture is a culture where there is a constant cycle that involves all members of the team. By involving all of the team members there are no surprises or miscommunications. In the DevOps Handbook it states, “DevOps practices improved the workplace environment for the team, creating lower stress and higher satisfaction because of greater practitioner involvement through the process” (Allspaw). Innovative culture fosters productive people and productive people produce better quality work. There was a mention, in the reading, of a figurative wall between development teams and operations teams. The image depicts a clear disconnect between the two sides in the traditional model. Contrastingly, innovation culture doesn’t have any walls. Instead, it fosters a workplace that is efficient and poised for success.
Delete2) According to the Westrum model, a company exhibits innovative culture when it is performance-based. When I worked for Apple, I felt that this culture was an important part of the company’s inner workings. At the core of everything we did, breaking into groups to assess strengths and weaknesses and best practices was a common occurrence. In this sense, employees, like myself, were constantly improving and refining our skill sets.
1. An Innovation Culture is a culture at a company that encourages employees to go above and beyond regular duties to improve processes or projects. An innovation culture wants employees to "think outside the box" when they are at work. I interned at Honeywell this past summer, and during my work there I found it had some processes in place that contribute to an Innovation Culture. Honeywell had a program up where they would award employees weekly that innovated and went above and beyond in their work, and write a story about them for the company news page.
Delete2. According to the Westrum Model, the company culture that encourages innovation the most is the generative culture. As I said above, I interned at Honeywell the previous summer, and I will be working there when I graduate. I believe that Honeywell is mostly a Bureaucratic culture, with some elements of Generative culture. There are very structured sets of rules that have to be followed in Honeywell to get any sort of project going, but once the project has begun, there are openings for innovation.
1. An innovation culture is a culture that brings together and encourages employees to be proactive with their work, and strive beyond their capabilities. In an innovation culture, employees work together to empower eachtother to be their best selves. An innovation culture is described as a "safe system of work" in the DevOps handbook, and reflects the creativity and involvement of the workplace. I worked at Discover Financial Services this summer, and experienced an innovation culture first hand. Employees step outside the box and strive to improve their work by upholding their company value of innovation. Innovation takes experience and guidance, but ultimately can greatly improve an organization.
Delete2. The Westrum model references an innovation culture as generative, and a culture that is performance-based. I believe that my experience with Discover was definitely based around a generative culture. I had the experience to work with individuals who were successful innovators in the financial services industry, and were focused on being proactive and thinking uniquely. This was my best experience as an internship and has made me experience innovation first hand.
1) Innovation culture entails promoting a workplace environment where employees are encouraged to come up with fresh, new ideas that may not typically be thought of as conventional. This innovation can help lead to great new policies or products that can revolutionize a company. It also makes sure to focus on the fact that innovation can come from all levels in a company, not just those at the top. In my experience with Foresters Financial Services, a company that I recently accepted a job offer with, I was very impressed with their approach to innovation. New employees have just as large of a role in departmental meetings as the branch manager. It is one of the biggest reasons I accepted the offer.
Delete2) The Westrum model denotes three types of organizations: Pathological (power), Bureaucratic (rules) and Generative (performance). Generative organizations clearly have the most innovative cultures, as they are characterized by high cooperation and teamwork. This allows innovation to come from all sorts of different sources. As I mentioned earlier, my experience with Foresters can be seen as innovative, as well as generative. Not only are there weekly branch meetings where everyone contributes, but there are also small sales teams that constantly work together to reach desired target markets. Everyone contributes to the greater good, and the success and communication of the team leads to increased success for everyone individually. Overall, the company’s culture is very facilitating for ingenuity and collaboration that leads to the best possible solutions which would not be found and/or shared in a more hostile, power-oriented environment.
The Three Ways: The Principles Underpinning DevOps - The authors assert that the Three Ways describe the values and philosophies that frame the processes, procedures, practices of DevOps, as well as the prescriptive steps. Refer to the link to see how these Ways work, but the specifics are covered in the book.
ReplyDelete1. The First Way emphasizes the performance of the entire system, where the focus is on all business value streams that are enabled by IT. In other words, it begins when requirements are identified (e.g., by the business or IT), are built in Development, and then transitioned into IT Operations, where the value is then delivered to the customer as a form of a service. How is the First Way put into practice? - no quoting from the link. This is covered in great detail in Chapter 2, "The First Way: The Principles of Flow". Use your own words. Provide an example if you can.
2. The Second Way is about creating the right to left feedback loops. The goal of almost any process improvement initiative is to shorten and amplify feedback loops so necessary corrections can be continually made. How is the Second Way put into practice?. This is covered in great detail in Chapter 3, "The Second Way: The Principles of Feedback". Use your own words. Provide an example if you can.
3. The Third Way is about creating a culture that fosters two things: (a) continual experimentation, taking risks and learning from failure; and (b) understanding that repetition and practice is the prerequisite to mastery. We need both of these equally. Experimentation and taking risks are what ensures that we keep pushing to improve, even if it means going deeper into the danger zone than we’ve ever gone. And we need mastery of the skills that can help us retreat out of the danger zone when we’ve gone too far.
How is the Third Way put into practice?. This is covered in great detail in Chapter 4, "The Third Way: The Principles of Continual Learning and Experimentation". Use your own words. Provide an example if you can. Reply to this post to answer these questions. You need not answer all the Ways, but read what others wrote, so you can comment.
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DeleteThe third way focuses on innovation culture and mastery of tangible skills. This can be put into practice by top-level management realizing that any level employee can contribute to system improvements. New system or process improvements from employees emerge through a company that creates an environment of expected continuous learning and high levels of autonomy. Company’s like Google focus on the third way by encouraging employees to take risks and not be afraid to fail, but to fail forward. Continuous learning is offered in various classes and certificates that companies offer to pay for. High levels of autonomy are accompanied by employee empowerment and organizational trust.
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DeleteThe First Way: The DevOps Handbook emphasizes "The First Way" in creating a business to be more Agile in their practices in order to reduce work in process. If a company finds a way to make their job processes to be more efficient then the quality of service is going to be more beneficial. This can lead to a more successful working environment where the end product can be in more abundance and customers can be found happier in a company they trust. The First Way can be found in the working environment by the implementation of a Kanban Board. This specific tool will layout the groundwork needed to make a project more iterative and for others to visualize the specific step a project is currently on. The First Way can be thought of as something that goes from development and then into production. Efficiency is key in order to drive your business model.
DeleteThe second way is complete by providing or receiving effective feedback and swarming. Feedback from others allows for problem identification and enhancement. Once a problem is found, a concept called swarming is activated. Swarming is stopping the entire system to focus on the error. Other team members stop what they are doing so they can help and provide feedback on the errored component. When team members engage in swarming, it minimizes the number of errors and reduces the technical debt associated with the error. These practices allow the builder and team members to provide feedback, reducing the time and enhancing the quality of code being released.
DeleteThe third way: The third way encourages people in an organization to conduct continual experimentation and learn from failure instead of fearing it. This way fits companies that hope to cultivate innovative culture because it will boost the generation of new idea and have people continues to learn external materials that can be beneficial for their career development. Risks always freak people out, but under this way, employees are encouraged to take risks and learn from them. Therefore, people will have great chances to develop deeper understanding of their own jobs and have better performance.
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DeleteThe first way is put into practice by fostering an innovation culture. This means that many tools and methods of DevOps are used in the company in order to provide higher turnout of code. When this is implemented , it often is translated to the customer who reaps the benefits of the system. A great example is Amazon and their web cloud service. It is used by the business to better update their website and it is also available to the public as a service.
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DeleteThe third way focuses on trial and error to learn and develop a product. This method views fear as an asset, not as a disappointment. This molds a company’s culture to align with an innovation culture. This shift decreases risk for employees at a company and allows them to apply creative approaches and changes to their work.
DeleteThe first step in putting “The First Way” in to practice is to make the work visible. Visibility is achieved through the use of Kanban boards or sprint planning boards. This help to establish were a product or code is in the process which speeds it delivery up. Priority du jour, is used to focus on the most pressing matter of the day. By focusing on the important, they are able to provide the client what is important to them at present. This allows the client to have a work iteration monthly, weekly, even daily if needed. Next maintaining small batch sizes is crucial to the lean processes frame-of-mind. Small manageable sized batches allow the teams to focus on achievable goals, which speeds the process. Next limiting the number of times the code or product switches teams time is wasted and errors occur. This is because information is lost in transition. I have seen this happen daily in the pharmacy, when a person receives a call and asks another to complete the action requested in the call. The person the request was handed to believes they are accurate completing the task, but valuable information was missed in the handoff and the final delivered products only slightly resembles the initial phone request. These errors that occurred in the pharmacy transaction could have been prevent if the person who received the call completed the action in the first place. Errors could have also been mitigated if the processes were continually checked and tested for completion “run” errors.
Delete“The First Way” could have help the people in my pharmacy example by creating a visual, if the pharmacy member wrote down what was requested. Next, they focused on that task alone (priority du jour). Limiting the persons duties to only dealing with phone call issues (small batches). They could have reduced errors by reducing the handoffs and completed the task by solely. And finally, the person completing the task could have checked if the action was correct (test).
Third way is primarily learning based along with using pre-established methods repeatedly until they are mastered. With continuous experimentation and learning from failure, it fosters a company culture that makes it okay to take risks as long as it is within reason. Having worked in Silicon Valley this summer, the phrase “no risk no reward” very much holds true in many day to day operations for companies out there. You never know what can be achieve if that first initial risk isn’t taken. With the second aspect, it is important to essentially “try and try again until you get it right”. Risk can be good in certain situations, but in those when the risk is not going to pay off, having mastered skills in place is always a good backup from the “danger zone”.
DeleteThe Third Way, the Principle of Continual Learning and Experimentation, is critical to the innovation within an organization. The best way to encourage continual learning and experimentation is to create the environment for this to occur as well as supplying employees with the means to continue learning and experimenting. One way to form a welcoming environment for this is for leaders at the top of the company to preach the importance and celebrate employees' innovations that have been instilled at the company. It also helps to talk about failures that they or the company has had and how they've used that failure to improve and build the idea. Also, an example of a way that the company can provide employees with the means to practice continuous learning and experimentation is to build learning modules that they can use to learn about different departments or products within the company. For instance, Salesforce has a platform called Trailhead that users can take advantage of to learn about their numerous products and systems that are related to the company. Another way that employee experimentation can be encourage and celebrated is through hackathons put on by the company. This not only benefits the employee because they have the opportunity to build things outside of their day-to-day, but also the organization, because the company may get a new improvement or product out of it.
DeleteThe third way describes how fast feedback is essential to improving a company’s overall technology value stream. To successfully do this problems that arise must be attacked head on, and then solved in order to further knowledge, and improve quality. Fast feedback is exemplified in companies like USAA. USAA understands the significance of this because they allow employees to create, and test improvement ideas in isolated labs. This allows for innovation to flow continuously without directly impacting the business’ operations side. Once the ideas are found to be an improvement, they can easily be released to the entire unit.
DeleteThe Third Way is the path of learning through experimentation. The best way to encourage this is to allow employees to try doing things in different ways. It is important that employees know that it is okay to fail. If they are afraid of failure, they will not try to do new things. Another important thing is for leadership to actually get on board with innovative culture. If leadership gives lip service to allowing innovation, but actually acts as if they want the old ways to be followed, it will kill any innovative ideas that employees may have.
DeleteThe first way is all about efficiency and reducing to the simplest means of production throughout the entire system from start to finish. The first way focuses on limiting work in process, reducing batch sizes and handoffs, addressing constraints, and eliminating inefficiencies. This means moving work quickly through the development and operations processes, although, the final product’s quality cannot be compromised.
DeleteThe first way is put into practice by using data visualization tools, such as kanban boards, to view the “invisible” flow of IT work. Secondly by focusing on shorter tasks (WIP) developers can limit multitasking and move quickly. Additionally, implementing smaller batch sizes reduces changeover, holding, and error costs. The last method of practice is reducing handoffs. This limits disruption to workflow.
In further researching the first way, I came across Targetprocess software which has been vocal about the benefits they have experienced by using kanban boards on their company website. Targetprocess software has a TV in their workplace that always displays a kanban board to keep employees on track. Their daily meetings take place by this TV to encourage productive conversation and a unified understanding of the company’s current goals. Further research shows larger companies like HP, Pixar, Zara, and Spotify also utilize kanban boards to identify and achieve their organizational goals.
How Kanban systems are used in different industries. (2015, November 12). Retrieved November 17, 2017, from https://theleadershipnetwork.com/article/lean-manufacturing/kanban
Taucraft. "How We Use Kanban Board. The Real Example. | Targetprocess - Visual management software." Targetprocess. Accessed November 17, 2017. https://www.targetprocess.com/blog/2009/10/how-do-we-use-kanban-board-the-real-example/.
The Third Way is about continuous improvement. This was a huge push at MGM Resorts International where I interned last summer. The more you practice something and make multiple iterations of it like in agile methodology, the better off your team will be. Each experience that results in failure or success should also be taken as a learning experience. The only way to grow an organization and foster new innovations and a creative company culture is by taking risks. The top two things that should scare a company when it comes to taking risks is the financial or social risk that could occur from it. Any other risk will be present in any situation you approach so take that risk!
DeleteThe Third Way is all about fostering an innovation culture, while also teaching skills that help mitigate the risks and solve the problems that come with being a little riskier. This can be implemented by the people at the top of a company. They have to preach to every last employee that repetition of key activities is key to mastery. All the while, as the employees are establishing their mastery of critical job functions, they must also start to take risks. Everything comes down to taking risks while also being able to account for the potential downfalls. If a company can increase the upside while fixing the downside, it will be very successful. If you look at baseball, the Astros are a great example of a team that has implemented the Third Way. Their front office culture has fostered suggestions and feedback from everyone in their baseball operations department. By encouraging everyone to take risks and examine unconventional players and prospects, while also mastering the vital skills needed to run a team, they were able to develop a young core of players that has already won a World Series and looks primed to be a powerhouse for many years to come.
DeleteFirst Way is put into practice by speeding up the process, though through this the number of products produced are reduce. In other words, the total batch size is reduced which helps to catch any problems or defects on time. This approach prevents from defects been passed down. It reduces the work in process, and assures quality work/product being produced and delivered to the customer on time, similar to the agile methodology.
ReplyDeleteAnother method to put the First Way into practice is to use visual work boards. This method also helps to reduce work in progress as it allows WIP limitations to be seen. By showcasing the workflow visually, every employee can see what stage a product is in and can assist if a bottleneck is being created.
DeleteAnother way to speed up the process using the First Way is identify system constraints . Once the developer is aware of their limits they can put more time in to the needs they are able to fix. Also they must decide how to best exploit and utilize the constraints. They must next elevate the constraints so that there is less room for future error. Also if along the process a constraint has been broken they must go back to step one to prevent inertia from failing the entire process.
DeleteKanban is a tool that I found very beneficial this past summer at my internship. It laid out the specific requirements needed for a project not in just one story but numerous stories. This is because Kanban is part of the Agile methodology and system requirements are a huge part. People invested in Kanban can then put their projects in multiple steps from "In Progress" to "Send to Production" in order to see what stage a project is currently on.
DeleteReducing batch sizes is a key component to the First way. In a technology value stream with large batches, software deployment can take months from the amount of code flowing from development to operations. Small batches breaks the code into digestible pieces for the value stream. For example, a supply chain software that is implementing a patch to fix a GPS bug on freight trucks would test out that code in small releases. If the company had released the patch in a large batch file and errors were still being generated, the company would have to spend more time finding which portion of code was causing the problem.
DeleteI totally agree with you that one key method to the First Way is to use visual tools. The First Way focuses more on the entire systems and conveys information or ideas from IT developers to operators. To accelerate and ease the whole process, a visual tool is helpful for operators. Because the visual tool can make concise and obvious diagram are readily to understand. If I were a operator, I would even request a brief visual display from the developers.
DeleteI agree too that First Way can be accomplished through visual tools. As it focuses on the entire system, which can help those in the DevOps team to see the whole picture. They can identify any defects easily in a product/project if they have a visual to look at.
DeleteVisual tools like the ones we did in class with sticky notes for the value proposition and customer profile can help identify system constraints as well as specifics. Before we did that project our functional and non-functional requirements were very broad and we weren't particular certain on what the major aspects of our system were. Afterwards it was all very clear and when we cleaned it up and modeled the information in UML everything fell into place.
DeleteThe Second Way is put into practice by swarming problems when they are found, enforcing management of complex systems, and ensuring that any new knowledge is quickly spread through the company. It is essential to receive feedback at every stage of the value stream so that problems can be quickly detected and eradicated. An example of integrating feedback into a process is having automated build, integration, and test processes. These automated processes allow errors to be found early and in a short time frame. With quick, early feedback, problems are solved in cheaper manners, disaster is averted, and organizational learning occurs.
ReplyDeleteAnother example of swarming problems when they are found is with artificial intelligence. AI is used in cyber security to detect breaches when they occur rather than weeks later. AI machines can learn from different types of security threats, and then implement new strategies to protect their systems based off of the different attacks a system has encountered. Since AI enables a quicker, automated patch to security breaches, less IT management is needed to monitor IT systems.
DeleteOne example of putting the Second way to use is when developers create a fail fast system. By doing this, feedback loops are implemented in the system so that as soon as there is a system fail or error, the user is immediately made aware so the resolution can occur now rather than later. When problems are resolved along the way rather than at the end of a process, issues are made aware to other user decreasing the amount of problems early on and allowing for a smoother process all around.
DeleteI personally love the second way best and all the functions it promotes in business. Swarming is a very great way to tackle a problem, bringing all hands on deck with an error occurs. One example of how swarming could be used today is in the retail industry. If a problem arises on the retail floor, all employees could rush to solve the problem as a group and resolve this before a customer could see this. Constant feedback is also a very important piece to creating a well tuned DevOps environment. In the retail example, employees could use the feedback results to improve upon daily operations.
DeleteSwarming is a good example of DevOps in IT support. In many large organizations with complicated IT systems, there will be a three-tier IT support system. Each tier deals with technology issues assigned to their jurisdiction. When problems are sent up, a lack of communication or urgency can cause delays or the issue can be completely ignored. Swarming collaborates the entire IT department by taking care of the problem as soon as it pops up by putting visibility and immediate direction on the issue. IT managers at all levels can see the scope of how many times the problem arises and lower level technicians or analysts can get solutions taken care of with better timing.
DeleteFeedback and swarming are two key critical components of the second way. It allows organizations to constantly improve their products and allows them to quickly identify errors for correction. I have seen the second way put into practice and feel that it is very effective for multiple releases. Swarming is also a great technique when an error is identified. It also leads to less technical debt and prevents future errors.
DeleteHaving the check in place of doing the automated build, integration, and test process is a good way of breaking the big picture down into smaller and more manageable pieces. With that feedback being received at each step, it is much easier to be able to manage the build throughout the process rather than waiting until the very end to do so.
DeleteThe third way focuses on creating a culture of continuous learning and experimentation. The third way says that individual creation of knew knowledge will lead to team and organizational knowledge. The third way focuses on enabling organizational learning and a safety culture, institutionalizing the improvement of daily work, transforming local discoveries into improvements across the globe, adding patterns into our daily work to increase productivity and creativity, and making sure leaders enforce a learning culture that will drive innovation. An example of the third way is creating a mutual respect between business leaders and the frontline workers. Neither business leaders or the frontline workers can solve problems on their own, so collaboration between the two parties will enforce a learning culture that will drive new innovations.
ReplyDeleteFocusing on the safety culture I think incident reporting is a great addition to the continuous learning culture of an organization. This was talked about throughout chapter 4 and I think that it really helps with accumulation of knowledge. If organizations participate in daily reporting, they have more than enough data about the work to improve on and learn from. This can help with daily work, safety, and system updates/improvements.
DeleteI find this way to be one of the most important. It is extremely beneficial to promote learning in an organization, especially after mistakes are made. The blameless post mortem discussed in chapter 4 is essential to this way and the success of an organization. Of course, companies want to avoid any errors, but mistakes occur and it is important to understand how they occurred without blaming a single employee. This allows employees to have the confidence to bring up errors and not try to hide them. Again, seen with the Toyota Kata, without improvements, processes will degrade and a learning culture is needed for improvements.
DeleteThis is a good summary of some of the main focuses of the Third Way. One thing that really stuck out to me in the reading was a remarkable example of "transforming local discoveries into improvements across the globe", as you mentioned. In this example, the U.S. Navy's Nuclear Power Propulsion Program (NR) 5,700 reactor-years of operation where there has not been any reactor-related casualties or radiation escape. All new members benefit from the collective knowledge that has been gained due to the intense commitment to scripted processes and procedures and to the record-keeping of all new learnings made. Their procedures and system designs are constantly updated and improved. This is a perfect example of taking local discoveries/learnings and ensuring they are continually and quickly made global to the rest of the organization.
DeleteI think the third way easily translates into the other methods. For example, the swarm and solve method which requires total attention on a problem by all employees can be achieved easier if an organization already promotes a culture of innovation. By withholding problems to a few problem solvers, organizations not only fail at the third way but also at the second way.
DeleteI think that Third Way is one of the most crucial methodcompared to the others. It is so important to identify errors and to try to solve it, or prevent it from happening again. Along with continuous learning, as it is very important for an employee's career growth. Especially when it is promoted from the top level down, and collaboration is encouraged between employees and leaders.It allows for higher productivity and a way for team bonding.
DeleteI think the third way is extremely important for organizations that wish to be successful, especially in the IT realm of business. If companies are not utilizing each persons individual knowledge to create a bigger picture and stronger team, there really is no collaboration taking place and efforts are being wasted. I agree with Emma in that this way is critical in regards to business continuity. If an error is to occur and there is no solution set in place to fix it, employees must have experience thinking out of the box and working together to find a feasible solution and repair the issue. I also like that Jakob touched on the aspect of mutual respect. For employees to be successful they have to feel comfortable regardless of their rank within a company.
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ReplyDeleteThe Third Way is put into practice by implementing several ideas that employees can adapt to in their daily process. It is of true value for a company to provide continuing education. In the field of technology every aspect changes over time in a short time. It is of value for a company to provide the necessary to tool to allow their employees to stay on top of and aware of as many advancements as possible. Also, companies must engage their employees with high levels of trust. Often when mistakes or errors are made employees become afraid of the blame that they will endure and it weakens future performance outcomes. If employees are made aware that accidents will happen and each incident is taken as a future learning tool and they will not be punished for it they will be more apt to accepting failure and taking more risks in brainstorming and innovation for their company.
ReplyDeleteAlso, different items like safety issues and workflow processes must not be ignored. When issues arise big or small they must be addressed and resolved in order to avoid a build up of problems and eventually large problems.
One example is when ALCOA aluminum became aware that they were having at least 7 work related injuries per day. When this was discovered it became a goal to decrease the amount to zero and they eventually met this goal by becoming 95% injury free. They are now one of the top rated safe companies to work for in their industry. Small changes can impact a company greatly when it begins to ensure its employees of their relativity and position within the company.
That 95% reduction in Alcoa's injury rate was absolutely astonishing to me when I first read it. It really goes to show how effective some of these processes can be. When Paul O' Neill became CEO and implemented his initiative, the dedication to daily improvements really made a powerful impact. The idea to promote a culture where reporting safety incidents was valued as opposed to being feared really went a long way for Alcoa and its employees. I agree with you that small changes can actually mean big changes for a company. Daily improvement is certainly a goal of the Third Way that should not be overlooked.
DeleteI think building employee trust and creating an environment where employees see failure as an opportunity to grow and learn is crucial for company's to continue innovating and growing. Failure is a key step in learning and ultimately learning new things is what drives new ideas and results.
DeleteTo implement the third way, a company has to give employees more trusts and authority on their desired projects. However, I would recommend that the managements guide employees and set up remedy solutions in case innovations bring some sort of risks.
DeleteBecause the third way requires organizations to have continuous learning, daily improvement is a critical step that organizations need to take.
I agree that establishing a company culture of trust is essential to encouraging trial and error. If employees are afraid of failing, then they will not be inclined to innovate and implement new ideas, which could have the potential to impact the organization in a positive way. An example of the way that the company that I interned for created a trusted environment for new ideas was by adding a chat platform that employees can use to submit their ideas within the community of the organization. This way, new ideas and improvements for current systems are highly visible to others in the organization to gain supporters and attention by decision-makers in the company.
DeleteI agree that continuing education of IT professionals is extremely important, especially due to the ever-changing nature of the industry. For employees to feel comfortable and that their efforts are valued businesses need to invest in their employees. Supporting continual education not only helps IT employees but the business overall as the new skills learned can be brought back to the business and implemented to create new initiatives or correct areas of inefficiency.
DeleteWhen I interned at JPMorgan, they gave all employees access to a training software that allowed access to videos and tutorials on a variety of subjects. JPMorgan has to pay the production companies to use these and I really appreciate that they do this. I was able to learn how to build a database solely using the tutorials provided in the training program and it was a great experience of technical growth for me. I then was able to use this new skill to create a database that they could use in their day-to-day business.
The third way essentially ensures employees feel comfortable in the culture an organization has produced. This comfort allows them to know that the organization is a safe environment to experiment and innovate. The third way focuses on a learning after mistakes environment to take the blame away from employees and ensure that they are comfortable trying new tactics without the fear of failure. In addition, the third way emphasizes workplace safety to ensure all employees will not be physically harmed. Both comfort in the non-physical and physical environment will allow employees to innovate and make improvements to current systems as they will not fear any consequences.
ReplyDeleteI agree that the key to having an innovative company requires trust throughout. The organization must ensure safety for the employees and be actively engaged with the employees to build that trust. You want to reduce fear within a company because you don’t want employees to be fearful of ever coming forward with their ideas or be scared about safety incidents. If an organization is struggling with employees feeling comfortable they can start by making small daily changes. This will be different for every company, but they don’t want to do a big overhaul unless there are major safety issues. I think small changes will be more effective in making the company more innovative and safe over time.
DeleteA comfortable atmosphere free from fear of making mistakes is what makes the third way work. They encourage employees to take risks which drives innovation and deep learning. I agree that a safe work environment facilitates this and that might be what a lot of start ups do not focus on, instead they put a heavier emphasis on innovation and catering to the changing needs of a unique cultural environment. It's attractive to a younger generation and it definitely cultivates idea generation contributing to a sustainable advantage over older more centralized corporations.
DeleteI agree that the safety aspects of the third way are what make it a uniquely effective strategy. While the physical safety is obviously important, especially in more hands-on, dangerous jobs. However, the job safety aspect is extremely crucial. I agree that if an employee truly believes he/she can step outside of their comfort zone, and have large upside (creating a new, innovative and potentially lucrative idea) compared to relatively little downside (being reprimanded, demoted or fired), then they are very likely to be as innovative as possible. If employees feel they are maximizing their potential while trusting that their livelihood is not at risk, then why wouldn't they try new things?
Delete1. The first approach emphasizes performance of the entire system, as opposed to smaller entities of the business. This approach is put into practice by making work visible, limiting Work In Progress, and reducing batch sizes. I want to focus in on the function of reducing batch sizes- as this is a critical component to improving the flow of DevOps. Prior to utilizing the smaller batch size idea, it was common to manufacture in large batch sizes. For examples, building a product that required changeovers is costly, thus thinking making large batch sizes was a good idea. However, in doing so WIP and variability in flow levels raise drastically. Many products would be produced in this large batch, and if one product has a defect, the whole batch was useless. By implementing smaller batch production, among the other components, DevOps will have a higher potential for a fast flow of information among the entire system.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you that reducing batch sizes is a critical component of improving flow in DevOps. I think another great example is to reduce handoffs. When there is a reduction in batch size, companies can focus on improving performance and quality. With the reduction of the number of handoffs, the value stream becomes more efficient. The more handoffs, the more information is lost through the process. You can reduce handoffs with automation and increase the flow in the value stream while also reducing the time that work waits in queues to be worked on. You now have value added back into the entire system.
DeleteThis reading really opened my eyes to why small batch sizes are so beneficial. I always thought doing things in big batches is better, but this reading really made me realize the problems associated with it. In addition to what you talk about in your post, the problem about big batch sizes that I never thought about and really sticks out to me now is how costly it can be to do a big batch of something and then realize something is wrong and have to scrap all you have done and start over, with wasted time, resources and money. I'm sure I have been in this situation before in my daily life. It can be identified in an example as simple as baking a large batch of some dessert you have never done before doing a small test batch. Now I understand how much smarter it is to do something all the way through first to make sure everything is correct before doing a large batch of it.
DeleteI think it is important to note that in addition to smaller batch sizes, it is important to have smaller teams. This allows for all the functions to be easily tracked to ensure that quick, quality work is being processed. Especially in the case of make errors, smaller batches and smaller teams are critical. The smaller size allows for a lot more control in pin pointing and fixing the error.
DeleteI like how you choose to focus in on the importance of reducing batch size in the first principle of underpinning DevOps. At a first glance, it may seem optimal for an organization to operate and manufacture in large batch sizes due to the reduction in the amount of changeovers, which are usually costly and can increase the risk of errors. However, it is important to think in the long-term of the benefits of small batch sizes. Similarly to the Agile Methodology, small, iterative development cycles allow necessary changes to be made more efficiently. Therefore, it is important to weigh and compare the risk associated with more frequent changeovers to the risk associated with producing in large batches and finding out that a requirement has not been met. With this analysis in mind, the smaller batch sizes are more preventative of production that lacks critical product requirements.
Delete2. The second way is about developing a fast flow from right to left at all stages of the value stream. Some of the ways this is done is through problem adaptation, solving problems to gain new knowledge, and improving quality from the source. Obviously being able to adapt to problems as they arise is important, however taking it to another level is learning from that mistake and developing a system that will not fail like it previously did. In the text, Toyota utilizes this Swarm method to solve problems when they arise. If a product is defective, they alert the manager for help, and if they cannot seem to patch the problem, the whole plant stops, and all hands are on deck to fix the problem. This is a prime example of how the second way utilizes learning from problems to simplify feedback loops.
ReplyDeleteThese are all great examples of how the Second Way is implemented in organizations. During the reading, the part I found particularly interesting was the idea of tackling problems immediately rather than "scheduling a fix". As you put it, having "all hands on deck". This ensures faster fixes and better feedback and learning for everyone. Another goal of the Second Way that you did not mention is that of working with complex systems safely. This can be done my meeting multiple conditions. First, you must manage complex work to reveal design and operations problems. Then, you swarm and solve those problems for a quick gain in new knowledge, which you can exploit across the organization. Finally, you continually grow leaders with the capabilities to ensure these conditions are always met.
DeleteLearning from problems that happen during production of a product and even from problems that arise in our lives is something to take into consideration. The entire world should grow from their mistakes and its only to get better from there on out. Stopping production until the problem is fixed is something that is very important as you wouldn't want to waste more money part of the budget.
DeleteI really like the concept of Swarming used by Toyota. The two most critical parts of the second way is feedback and swarming. This provides input to every part of the value stream resulting in an enhanced product with minimal errors. I like the idea of swarming because it stops operations and requires everyone to attempt to figure out the problem. This reduces the amount of technical debt associated with the error.
Delete3. Unlike the other approaches, the third way focuses on creating a culture of continual non-stop learning and experimentation. A big component of the third way is the utilization of organizational learning and promoting a safety culture. The three types of cultures brought up by Dr. Westrum in the text are; Pathological, Bureaucratic, and Generative. Another example from the text discusses Toyotas process improvement checks, and how important they can be. A key facet in creating an environment that supports experimentation and trial, institutionalizing the improvement of daily work is also very critical. In one of Toyota’s production plants, there was a lack of improvements, and in so the process degraded over time. This shows that non-stop learning and innovation is the key to success in the third way.
ReplyDeleteI think that Toyota is a great example of a company that utilize's the third way approach. They really are the gold standard of continuous improvement that many other companies modeled their production lines off of. Hats off to them. Toyota understands that you should always be forward looking and making improvements along the way. There are always ways to be more efficient. You just have to research your methods closer. They also believe in continuous innovation. This means that they need consistent, new ideas for models of their cars. I think they have come a long way in terms of their cars' aesthetics. I would have never gotten a Toyota in the past, but nowadays with their newest models, I'm probably open to it.
DeleteThe Toyota case is very interesting to look at, as it is a first-hand indicator that non-improvement equates to going backwards as the competition continues to find innovative and efficient ways to improve their processes. If companies and/or specific branches refuse to innovate and adapt, they will essentially be subject a business-version of evolution. Charles Darwin's "survival of the fittest" does not only apply to living things, but also business. Companies that do not keep moving forward will get left in the dust and eventually fall to irrelevance.
DeleteThe goal of the Second Way is to create a safer and more resilient system for work. This is especially true in complex systems. Telemetry allows us to measure whether or not we are reaching our expected goals. The information we gather from telemetry detects whether a system is operating as expected and is channeled through to the entire value stream. This is valuable because we can quickly see how one action affects a different part of the system or the system as a whole. Telemetry is a part of feedback loops, allowing for quick detection of problems and enables us to recovery the system faster.
ReplyDeleteSimilar to telemetry, organizations can also use build, integration and test processes to detect new changes. Like telemetry, this helps ensure more constant feedback and allows us to see problems in real-time. With this information, we can better determine how to prevent such problems from reoccurring in the future. As if that weren't reason enough, it can also promote increased safety, quality and organizational learning. Thus, all of these are definitely valuable tools to an organization.
DeleteFeedback is very important in the second wave. It allows us to create the safer and more resilient system you mentioned in your post. I found the feedback system to be very valuable where I work. It is something that is practiced everyday, and leads to successful builds and deployment. The telemetry measurement allows us to see defects and communicate them to the team.
DeleteThe First Way is put into practice in a variety of ways. It seeks to improve process flow through the technology value stream, which can be done through the combination of numerous practices. One such way the First Way is put into practice is by making the work visible. The problem is that technology process flows are often invisible by nature. Some ways to battle this is to use visual work boards such as kanban boards or sprint planning boards. This practice makes it easier to manage the flow. Another practice of the First Way is to limit work in process (WIP). A simple way this is put into practice is by setting an actual WIP limit. For example, if using a visual work board, you can set a limit for the number of cards that can be in each column. The First Way also advocates for reduced batch sizes. For technology processes, this is put into practice by using continuous development. This way errors are detected sooner, lead times are faster, and there is less WIP. Another staple of the First Way is to reduce the number of handoffs there are of a project between teams or members of an organization. A way this is put into practice is by automating parts of the work or restructuring teams so that they less dependent on other teams and less handoffs are needed. The First Way also includes identifying and elevating constraints. This is done through a series of steps that includes identifying the system’s constraint, determining how to exploit it, prioritizing this above all else, and elevating the constraint. Finally, the First Way requires that hardships and waste found in the value stream are eliminated. In practice, organizations can identify and eliminate things such as partially done work, extra processes and features, task switching, waiting, motion, defects, heroics, and manual or nonstandard work. These are all examples of how the various elements of the First Way can be put into practice. However, organizations are not limited to these solutions and may find other ways to, for example, limit WIP or reduce handoffs.
ReplyDeleteThe Second Way, centered around the fast, constant flow of work from left to right and feedback from right to left, is accomplished by meeting a number of goals. There are different ways these goals can each be put into practice. The first expectation of the Second Way is to work with complex systems safely. This can be done my meeting a set of conditions that includes managing complex work to reveal design and operations problems, swarming and solving problems, exploiting new knowledge across the organization, and continually growing leaders with the capabilities to ensure these conditions are always met. Another focus of the Second Way is seeing problems in real-time. A way this can be put into practice is by implementing automated build, integration and test processes and telemetry. These help monitor the production environment, detect changes, and more. The Second Way also involves swarming and solving problems to build new knowledge, which means organizations should strive to tackle and solves problems as soon as they appear, rather than schedule a fix. Another goal of the Second Way is to push quality closer to the source. This can be accomplished through the practice of peer reviews and automated quality checking. Finally, part of the Second Way involves optimizing for downstream work centers. This can be done prioritizing non-functional operations requirements just as much as user features during the design process. All these practices help enable fast feedback throughout the technology value stream.
ReplyDeleteI think feedback around deploys is essential for any company. Like you said, "the Second Way is seeing problems in real time." It is very important that these deploys are solving the problems that they are intended to and the constant feedback throughout the process in the Second Way helps companies have working software.
DeleteI've definitely have seen the second way used in action through separated environments to identify problems real time and to manage the system. For example, using a 3 stage deployment method allows the production environment to remain untouched. This way you only have to monitor for changes and can understand these changes as errors or operational inefficiencies. The deployment stage allows the dev team to do exactly that, develop without bounds. Finally, a test stage is used to test any deployments from dev to work out any impacts before pushing to prod.
DeleteI think the Second Way is very interesting because it deals with feedback of the initiative. A good company always seeks feedback whether internally or externally in order to improve their operations and processes. I think if feedback can be given continuously throughout the process, corrective action can be taken sooner, and by the end, they will have a perfect deploy/working piece of software. Some outcomes of the Second Way include, understanding and responding to internal and external customers, shortening and amplifying feedback loops, and embedding knowledge where it is needed. The Second Way can be put into practice by having a continuous integration of building and deploying process that work quickly and are tested rapidly. The faster it moves through, the quicker feedback can be received, and the quicker the errors can be fixed
ReplyDeleteI agree with you that the most interesting part of the second way is the feedback of initiatives. I think it's really important that you pointed out that feedback needs to be collected both internally and externally. Often times there are things that will be overlooked by internal employees that will be obvious and stand out to external users.
DeleteFeedback is incredibly important to the development process. It is important to have continuos meetings during the process in order to better understand the system being created as well as quickly locate errors. It is also important for employees to have the confidence to bring up issues if they feel they have found an error. Errors must be expressed quickly so they can be stopped in a good time frame.
DeleteThe third way best reflects an innovative culture by engaging in specific practices that are all equally important to the success of a company. This way places importance on information and organizational fluidity within the organization so that over time it can gain experience and create further knowledge from that. This method also can be put into practice by creating an environment that encourages risk taking, unorthodox ideas, and experimentation. This risk presents the opportunity for failure, which is a result that the organization must be accepting of and prepared for. This practice of trial and error will continually lead each area of the company to a deeper understanding of their work. Companies like Facebook have achieved an innovative culture using the third way. They have an open streamline of communication between top-level executives and lower level employees to share new ideas and feedback. They host monthly opportunities for their employees to come forward with improvements. Facebook is known to push their employees to explore new business opportunities that are risky but have led to ultimate success. This is part of the reason they are able to operate in so many segments today.
ReplyDeleteFacebook is a great example of a company that exemplifies the third way. It is becoming more and more important for different organizations to embrace an culture of innovation. In the technology realm that most companies operate in today, ideas and products are constantly changing. It is necessary to keep up with the changes by allowing employees to take part in innovation by not being afraid of failures or the punishments that come with them.
DeleteSarah I agree that Facebook exemplifies the third way. It is through their innovative culture that they developed React, a leading coding language in client side loading that is used on most social media sites today.
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DeleteEmma you are completely right, in the fast pace technology field companies must allow and encourage employees to innovate and fail forward in order to survive.
The First Way is all about tracking work flow, which is inherently invisible in IT Development and Operations. You want to track workflow to determine where work is currently, foresee potential problems, and give all stakeholders visibility on the project. Additionally, by making tasks visible it gives the work a type of physical structure, to see the work in process, current batch size, handoffs, and waste. You make the work visible utilizing things like a Kanban or Scrum board. They can be virtual or physical as long as they are constantly seen, and people keep them updated. In my own experience we used Kanban boards. We would update the board throughout the day, conduct our daily standup at the board, use the board to help track what people were doing, and pass any updates or impediments. Being a visual person I like The First Way, and I understand why it is essential in achieving better flow in DEVOPS outcomes.
ReplyDeleteI have seen workflow being invisible to IT in various places. For projects, the project itself takes priority, but I agree that it’s important to know what the workflow is. Whether it be visually through Kanban boards as you mentioned, or through some other way. For me, I usually write down the process for a piece of the project.
DeleteVisibility is extremely important when working in a system. The entire concept behind the intern project I worked on is summer for Goldman Sachs was visibility. My VP was interesting in showcasing the reports her team was completing. Some of the data as shocking to her as there was never a good visual tool to decipher the data. I learned here how incredibly important visibility is.
DeleteFrom what I have read, it seems Kanban is a popular option when it comes to visualizing projects. As you pointed out, it seems that in the IT world there are lots of processes that do not get drawn out or pictured like they would in other industries. Thus, the first way is crucial, especially when communication between multiple parties is necessary. When everyone is able to look at a model that clearly diagrams the necessary steps, it allows the entire operation to be on the same page.
Delete1) An Innovation culture is best defined as a culture that is not afraid to make mistakes. Innovation culture means not being ready to adapt to change but preparing for change before change occurs. Not only is a company gearing up for change, but they are doing so by pushing continuous involvement and collaboration and learning between peers and higher levels of management. Respect for each other and each other’s work allows for ideas to be shared in an environment of acceptance and understanding instead of fear and criticism. Working for the university of Arizona bookstore I was tasked with generating new streams of revenue for the rec center location. I was arguing the potential success that blank (non-insignia) adidas clothing would bring in additional customer market segments that we have been previously missing out on by only offering nike and underarmour clothes.
ReplyDelete2) When I worked for the main bookstore as a receiving associate I experienced what would best be described on Westrum’s model as somewhere in between Pathological and Bureaucratic. It seemed that whenever the president of the bookstore was near, the managers of the different departments would shudder in despair. Ideas that had been generated over decades to help improve operations throughout the bookstore had often gone unheard. Favoritism played a role in moving up the management ladder with less regard to skills and capabilities. Departments were protective of their student workers fearing they wouldn’t get their work done if they lost a student or two too another departments project that was deemed more important by higher management. Instead departments should be eager to cross train as many students as possible as theoretically never out of workers. Student workers are not taken seriously even workers who have been there for many years and have experience in multiple departments. Rivalries between departments exist as placement and office space throughout the three-story building is “unfairly” divided. It was not until was promoted to work at threads at the rec center that my ideas were welcomed.
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ReplyDelete1. Innovation culture is seen when employees are encouraged to find ways to improve the system they work in to better complete their work. One of the greatest examples of a company that puts this into practice is Amazon. When Amazon first started, they had dedicated servers and they were not able to perfectly guess the amount of stock that they would need in a certain warehouse. An effect of this was that Amazon was not able to handle the Christmas shopping season and their site would crash regularly. Amazon recently moved to the Amazon Web Services cloud which allows engineers to scale up or down depending on the situation. This spurred the creation of a continuous development process and last year Amazon engineers were deploying code at an average of a new line of code every 11.7 seconds. (Techbeacon.com)
ReplyDelete2. I would say that General Dynamics according to the Westrum model would be considered Bureaucratic and Generative. While much of the work is done in their given departments, there is also quite a bit of collaboration and teamwork that happens daily. When working in the IT department I was never looking for help too long before I was able to find someone. I don’t think that the employees at GD have “little concern for the overall mission of the organization” because they were all passionate about the large projects that their organization was taking on. There were also plenty of online communication tools that I not only needed to use, but most of my work was with improving the online communication tools and databases.
I think an innovative culture is essential in today's workplace because people are really pushing the envelope when it comes to new ideas/apps/companies. I also mentioned Amazon in my post because I truly believe they are the epitome of an innovative company culture with the amount of new products and services they offer.
Delete"This spurred the creation of a continuous development process and last year Amazon engineers were deploying code at an average of a new line of code every 11.7 seconds"
DeleteThis fact is so impressive and I'm glad you mentioned it! I think we have all gotten so used to websites that load extremely quickly, work all the time, and are fully functional with more capabilities than ever before. It is interesting to stop and think about what processes are supporting the continuing evolvement of web platforms and the development process that precedes it. The Amazon Web Services platform is extremely impressive and another success for Amazon. I think they do a great job of not only identifying what their customers want (2-day shipping, variety of products) but what their business needs for proper functionality and support as well.
I thought it was very interesting that you brought up Amazon. I had no idea that such a large company had difficulties supporting traffic on their website. I also agree with Peyton about about how Amazon on "average [developed] a new line of code every 11.7 seconds."
DeleteI believe the Second Way is put into place by the people themselves, working as a group to solve one problem. From my experience, finding problems in a system takes a few people, not necessarily an entire team. One instance is that it took two people to track down a network problem. One person had to physical walk around the building floor to each individual office, while the other person tested each port from the telecom room. While it’s not necessarily creating some unique knowledge, the testing is creating knowledge of how to manage the network.
ReplyDeleteI find this point of view interesting. In your particular instance, you are right in that it took only two people. However, I also thought Toyota's swarming method is intriguing and effective. It seems that it depends on a situation-by-situation basis, as it may require an employee-initiated small group, or a management-initiated huge collaboration. This is something that can be discussed and changed by each company.
DeleteThe First Way states that work flows from Development to Operations in the technology value stream. To deliver more value to the customer, work must move quickly and smoothly between the two functional areas. There’s a variety of different ways the first way can be implemented, one of which is reducing batch sizes. By reducing batch sizes, companies can lower work in process, detect errors faster, and reduce lead times. This concept can easily be seen in batches of code. Rather than rolling out new code to every user – say in the form of patches- companies can release it to a small number of people, incrementally to detect errors faster and get feedback from the customers to determine if it actually fulfills their needs.
ReplyDeleteThe second way is put into practice through careful management, swarm and solve, and global information distribution. Careful management can be achieved in a number of ways. For example, one way to manage and understand if a change has occurred in the production environment is through the use of different environments. If we know changes should only occur in production at specified times, then anomalies can easily be detected and solved. Generally, having a production, development, and test environment is a good way to ensure the system functions properly. The swarm and solve methods says that rather waiting to address a problem, the problem should be tackled by everyone possible until it is resolved then and there. At Toyota, we say this method applied through their andon cord. When the cord is pulled a solution must be obtained in 55 seconds or the entire production line is halted. Finally, global distribution of locally obtained information ensures the feedback loop is not limited to one area of the business. If a solution to a problem is made known only to one sector of the business, it should be known across the organization. This way a solution that can be used across the organization is in fact used.
ReplyDelete1. An innovation culture is defined by the work environment in which leaders and executives cultivate to “nurture unorthodox thinking and its application”. Work environments that have an innovative culture typically believe that innovation is not only from the top leaders, but anyone can come from anyone in the company. This summer in my internship, I saw innovative culture every day. My managers had meetings with all the interns asking for our opinions and suggestions on things such as social media and recruiting.
ReplyDelete2. In regard to the Westrum Model, I believe that the type of company culture that best depicts an innovation culture is the generative organization. This culture focuses on the mission. This summer at my internship the mission was “Hunger, heart, and harmony”. My company lived by this. They made sure everything they did on a daily basis revolved around those three words. They made sure to find it in everything, somehow some way. There was lots of teamwork on a daily basis. I do not think I saw someone working on a project alone ever, even when it required multiple departments.
1) Innovation culture can be described as thinking outside the box and constantly improving ways day-to-day tasks are completed. This is especially important in companies that have major competitors in their industry and need this constant improvement to stay ahead of the curve. An example of a company that has this sort of culture is Toyota. Although they are one of the pioneers of this movement, having a culture where these day-to-day improvements ensure that the company is not just meeting the status quo and is actually improving the operations of their jobs is critical for Toyota to remain afloat and one of the top automakers in the industry. This culture provides a supportive atmosphere that has proved its resiliency over many years.
ReplyDelete2)With the Westrum model in mind, the three types of organizational structures described were pathological, bureaucratic, and generative. At my current job in the IT department of the U of A Student Unions, we have a rather generative department culture that fosters a very supportive and productive atmosphere. Not only do we keep track of individual performance throughout the life cycle of different projects, we also have performance evaluations by higher-ups in the Union quarterly. This atmosphere fosters an atmosphere where each employee is accountable and responsible for their work, but also where each employee knows how to improve in different areas as needed.
1. Innovation culture is defined as a company that has an environment or ambiance that is dedicated to constantly improving, tweaking or creating a system. An example of innovation culture can be see within the creation of Devops itself. As explained in the Devops link above, development and operations used to be separated. Dev was a “shorthand” way of describing all involved in developing a product or service. Operations then has to figure out how to use it. With them working together, constant innovation within a company can occur as development and operations is working together so that both parties have an increase in empathy, understanding with each other. Thus, issues are taken care of faster, solutions produced more quickly and efficiencies and innovations increase.
ReplyDelete2. A type of company culture that I’ve experienced within my life regarding innovation culture is my work as a swim lesson instructor. We were given freedom over how we were to develop our teaching methods and often were told to source both other materials and other swim programs to gain skills and knowledge to better understand our client’s needs. One of the greatest things is our easy access to managers. If I noticed there was a better way of teaching in a certain level, I could show them, and they would actually have me test it the very next day. If a new method was effective, I would then be given a platform on weekends to demonstrate in front of my co-instructors.
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