Leading Devops practice and principle adoption

This research, undertaken in highly structured software-intensive organizations, outlines challenges associated to agile, lean and DevOps practices and principles adoption. The approach collected data via a series of thirty (30) interviews, with practitioners from the EMEA region (Czech Republic, Estonia, Italy, Georgia, Greece, The Netherlands, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, UAE, UK), working in nine (9) different industry domains and ten (10) different countries. A set of agile, lean and DevOps practices and principles, which organizations choose to include in their DevOps adoption journeys were identified. The most frequently adopted structured service management practices, contributing to DevOps practice adoption success, indicate that those with software development and operation roles in DevOps-oriented organizations benefit from existence of highly structured service management approaches such as ITIL®

Exploring the link between leadership and Devops practice and principle adoption

Our research focuses in software-intensive organizations and highlights the challenges that surface as a result of the transitioning process of highly-structured to DevOps practices and principles adoption. The approach collected data via a series of thirty (30) interviews, with practitioners from the EMEA region (Czech Republic, Estonia, Italy, Georgia, Greece, The Netherlands, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, UAE, UK), working in nine (9) different industry domains and ten (10) different countries. A set of agile, lean and DevOps practices and principles were identified, which organizations select as part of DevOps-oriented adoption. The most frequently adopted ITIL® service management practices, contributing to DevOps practice and principle adoption success, indicate that DevOps-oriented organizations benefit from the existence of change management, release and deployment management, service level management, incident management and service catalog management. We also uncover that the DevOps adoption leadership role is required in a DevOps team setting and that it should, initially, be an individual role

A leadership model for DevOps adoption within software intensive organisations

The research, undertaken in organisational environments within IT-oriented culture and highly structured processes, outlines challenges and benefits associated to the adoption of Agile, Lean, and DevOps practices and principles. Realizing the adoption of DevOps practices and principles is no longer restricted to technology-specific skills. Studies indicate that successful DevOps adoption is part of continuous organisational transformation at various levels, and that includes a shift in cultural and behavioural patterns, process-driven perspectives, and toolchain usage readiness. There are also DevOps models to suggest an adoption roadmap for organisations to follow through the transitional path from existing highly structured processes to agile and lean approaches. However, there is a considerable lack of validated adoption models which are inclusive of leadership styles, traits, characteristics and the connection to adoption success or failure. This thesis details the explanation of product development approaches and using a mixed methods approach aims to provide proof and evidence to support the answers towards three research questions. The approach collected data through thirty interviews with industry practitioners, who were from ten countries working in nine different industry sectors. Almost two-thirds of interviewees had practiced DevOps. A set of agile, lean and DevOps practices and principles, which organisations choose to include in their DevOps adoption journeys were identified. The most frequently adopted structured service management practices, contributing to DevOps practice adoption success, indicate that those with software development and operation roles in DevOps-oriented organisations benefit from existence of highly structured service management approaches such as ITIL® . Furthermore, coded themes were generated based on the thirty interviews to expand understanding of relevant factors and produce the structure of an online survey. The analysis and evaluation of the online survey (n=250) confirmed some of the initial findings of the interviews and expanded viewpoints on other perceived outcomes. Out of the total 250 participants, 81% had 10+ years of professional experience and two-thirds were practicing DevOps. 73% of participants were from Europe and 76% had held previous leadership positions. The aim of the survey was to unveil leadership-specific observations on characteristics and factors that would indicate certain reasoning behind challenges faced by organisations while transitioning to DevOps. The research questions which evolved around (R1) an understanding of how productivity can be improved for software product development teams, indicated that there is a specific set of service management, project management and product management practices and principles to take into account. Furthermore, evidence produced from the qualitative and quantitative studies confirmed (R2) that DevOps-oriented organisations have mainly preferred to extend the structured approaches previously adopted such as ITIL® v3. The online survey produced significant evidence (R3.a) of industry practitioners’ desire to have a leadership role for the purposes of DevOps practice and principle adoption. (R3.b) The emergent leadership style pertinent to the transition of IT-focused organisations to DevOps condensed to the linkage of transformational and servant leadership. The observations from the confirmatory study of the online survey (n=250) contributed to the design and development of a conceptual model which emphasizes. The conceptual model was validated using PLS-SEM to improve understanding of significance and predictive power of construct validity and corresponding manifest variables. The final, model evaluation research stage of three focus group interviews (n=19), indicated industry practitioner consensus on the validated model in a range of 70% - 79%. The thesis outcomes formulate a leadership model towards the fulfilment of DevOps adoption within organisations. The thesis outcomes also aim to support the transitional efforts to DevOps, and commitment of software-intensive i.e. enterprise with an IT organisation. In this way, it become possible to enhance the competence level of an organisation’s adoption capability, guide DevOps adoption leadership through its upskilling journey, and achieve the cultural shift of mindset to enable continuous and habitual change

The link between transformational and servant leadership in DevOps-oriented organizations

DevOps is a set of agile and lean practices and principles in the context of software product development aiming to decrease mean time-to-market and mean time-to-recover-from-failure through a shift in organizational mindset-skillset-toolset. There is literature to suggest that adopting DevOps has been challenging in practice and that a particular leadership style is necessary to lead DevOps adoption. There are studies to suggest that DevOps leadership is mainly related to transformational leadership characteristics. In this research, a mixed methods approach is used. Initially, semi-structured interviews are conducted with 30 EMEA (Europe, Middle-East and Africa) agile and lean practitioners holding more than 10 years of practitioner experience (81%) from the private and public sectors. The contribution also includes an analysis and evaluation of a survey completed by 250 participants of which 93% works in Europe and Middle East and 76% has held previous leadership positions. By looking to recent literature we identified agile, lean and DevOps practices and principles. In addition, we identify benefits and inhibitors to DevOps adoption and its leadership. Our results suggest that deep rooted organizational culture and lack of DevOps definition clarity are usually considered impediments to DevOps adoption followed by poor communication and collaboration. Our results also show that certain DevOps adoption leadership characteristics are relevant to transformational leadership and servant leadership. The research results also indicate that the DevOps adoption leadership role is linked to certain metrics

Defining leadership and its challenges while transitioning to DevOps

DevOps practices and principles adoption is no longer restricted to technology-specific skills. Many studies indicate that successful DevOps adoption is part of continuous corporate transformation at all levels; cultural and behavioural patterns, process-driven perspective and toolchain readiness for usage. Our research method involves the analysis and evaluation of 30 interviews with participants from the private and public sectors in the EMEA region. Analysis and evaluation of a survey completed by 250 participants (73% from Europe) and 76% who have held previous leadership positions is also included. A mixed methods approach was used. Thirty (30) participants from consultancy firms and service provider organisations, generated coded themes to expand our understanding of relevant factors. From the 250 survey participants, 81% had 10+ years of professional experience and two-thirds were currently practicing DevOps. The aim of our research was to unveil leadership-specific observations on characteristics and factors that would indicate certain reasoning behind challenges faced by organisations while transitioning to DevOps. Our results show that top leadership factors identified are: communication and collaboration, customer-centric mindset, having a technical background, and being an active listener. The least important factors identified were: gaining a relevant certification, design thinking, previous experience on transformation projects, and talent seeking

Facilitating organisational decision making: a change risk assessment model case study

Purpose: This paper aims to take the challenge to propose a novel modelling approach named Change Risk Assessment Model (CRAM), which will contribute significantly to the missing formality of business models especially in the change risk assessment area and decision-making. Organisational change risks are assessed with the aid of analytic hierarchy process (AHP) in an attempt to define the internal dynamics of organisational change management within project management eliciting also risk cause-and-effect relationships. Design/methodology/approach: The study discusses interviews/survey/AHP. Findings: The study presents the following findings. Change risk factors assessment (identification and prioritisation) recommendations (see Case Study) integration of change management; project management; risk management top four risk factors, namely, leadership, communication, project management team and culture. Research limitations/implications: As projects can be different in a variety of factors (quality, scope), an exhaustive list of risk factors cannot be identified. There is a continuous risk identification process throughout the projects’ life cycle. For example, many risks can be classified initially as unknown and can be refined after the initiation phase of the project. AHP factors limitation (eight per level) possible bias (survey analysis). Practical implications: With the aid of modelling and especially CRAM, business change risks can be assessed numerically and prioritised. Several risk factors and related attributes were identified and categorised. This empowers project managers or other stakeholders to make proper decisions about whether to take on or abandon respective organisational or project changes. Social implications: One of the values of CRAM is that it can be regarded as a global change risk assessment method that can be applied regardless of project type, size or organisation. Moreover, it has the advantage that it can be used by any kind of project, as the method is designed to be tailored to specific needs, taking significant environmental change risk factors into account. AHP has numerous uses in operational research, in project management and in general in areas where decisions (evaluation and selection) have to be made. The analysis of the case study presented, indicated that it is vital to assess the degree (impact) that each risk attribute poses to address complex organisational decisions. Originality/value: CRAM aims to bridge the gap between theoretical and applied work in the integrated research field of change management, project management and risk management. Furthermore, the approach attempts to develop a novel systematic methodology (model) for assigning probabilities in attributes (criteria) pair-wise comparison and more specifically, modelling and assessing change management risks, adding a different perspective and technique to the research area

Synthesis of a leadership model for DevOps Adoption

The first decade of DevOps-orientation in software-intensive organizational environments is often characterized with an emerging set of skills that support DevOps practice adoption, targeting a cross-functional collaborative culture; with an aim of achieving a shift in mindset, skillset, and toolset. We investigate DevOps adoption constructs to facilitate development of a formative measurement model to support leadership throughout the DevOps transitional journey. The model and its constructs are designed and validated with a multi-method approach. Initially an exploratory study of a survey is conducted with 250 respondents 76% of whom possess leadership roles, 93% work in Europe and Middle East, and two-thirds are practicing as DevOps practitioners. Pertinent model indicators are produced and grouped under constructs based on survey results and validated using PLS-SEM. The formative structural model is presented and validated in three separate focus group sessions, comprising of respectively seven (7), five (5), and seven (7) participants all of whom had held leadership positions; from countries including USA, UK, The Netherlands, UAE, Greece, Georgia, Switzerland. Seventeen (17) focus group participants provided additional responses through a focus group in-session survey, which allowed feedback on specific model constructs. Results indicate that a set of practices, a set of skills, a set of metrics, DevOps adoption planning and the existence of the DevOps adoption leader roles, should be part of organizational aspirations in the definition of leadership in a DevOps transition path