As I had described in the introductory post, DevOps is about a cultural and mindset change. It is not about just implementation of a few tools and techniques. Any type of culture change involves a number of critical success factors.
In the context of DevOps these include:
- Management commitment to culture change : Without a Management commitment, it is hard to imagine a cultural shift as big as DevOps
- Creation of a collaborative, learning culture : This is a continuous learning culture which involves improvement of processes, tools and the work that one does.
- Common values and vocabulary
- Systems engineering that spans Dev and Ops
- Meaningful metrics : Sometimes organizations have metrics which are not in sync with the actual work going on on the floor. The metrics have to be meaningful
- A balance between automation and human interaction : Most people think DevOps is about Automation only.
- Application of agile, lean and service management methods
- Open and frequent communication