I refer to the third way of DevOps–continuous experimentation and learning, as simply continuous improvement. In some sense, there is no way to learn the third way of DevOps because it is, by definition, a moving target. It does make sense to discuss what is needed to create a continuous learning organization for DevOps continuous improvement that builds on mastery of the first way and second way of DevOps.
As indicated in my blog Learning ‘The Second Way’ of DevOps – Continuous Feedback and my prior blog Learning ‘The First Way’ of DevOps – Continuous Flow, it is clear many organizations are struggling to realize well-engineered DevOps, even the first way of DevOps, continuous flow.
The first way of DevOps, continuous flow, is the foundation for DevOps. Once mastered, an organization will naturally want to master the second way of DevOps to achieve the higher level of benefits that continuous feedback offers, when engineered well. Once the second way of DevOps is achieved, then an organization will naturally want to master the third way of DevOps, to sustain and grow their DevOps capabilities.
DevOps is an evolving body of knowledge. There is no one-stop shop that covers all roles and the complete range of skills required for DevOps. A DevOps-competent workforce requires an ongoing commitment to DevOps skills development and mastery. Enterprises must approach DevOps training strategically to leverage training resources to their best advantage.
Learning Continuous Improvement
There are no training resources dedicated solely to the third way of DevOps—continuous improvement. Many of the same resources as the first way of DevOps and the second way of DevOps do have some relevant information, though. Analysis of DevOps results, third-party research sources, industry sources such as publications, articles, conferences and tool vendors roadmaps for DevOps and related frameworks including site reliability engineering (SRE) and AIOps are good sources of information that stimulate self-directed teams to seek the training information that is most relevant to the organization’s DevOps improvements.
Why Is Learning Continuous Improvement Important to Engineering DevOps?
The third way of DevOps—continuous improvement—requires an organizational commitment to continuous learning and mastery at the most advanced level. Typical skills needed include implementation and operation of advanced practices for microservices design and operations, advanced continuous testing, multi-pipelines, value stream management, SRE, observability, DevSecOps and AIOps. Retention and development of highly skilled and hard to find experienced DevOps professionals and SREs makes it important to develop skills in-house.
How Is Learning Continuous Improvement Accomplished?
The following are recommended engineering practices for learning continuous improvement:
- A continuous learning culture encourages individuals to continuously gain knowledge and exchange experiences and ideas for DevOps and SRE.
- Mentoring is an explicit program.
- Retrospectives are structured to thoroughly analyze significant, unexpected events and determine solutions that will prevent the events in the future.
- An active online library of DevOps and SRE training resources is maintained that tracks the latest and most innovative approaches to DevOps and SRE.
- DevOps and SRE teams evolve their skills and advance their careers by engaging with industry thought leaders to continuously update training content.
- Partner with trusted education and training partners ensure the highest-quality learning content and tools are made available to DevOps and SRE teams.
- A portion of DevOps and SRE teams time is allocated for training and education.
- Cross-team sharing of recommended engineering practices is proactively pursued using the concepts of Yokoten—proactive sharing of practices between teams.
What Is Needed to Implement Learning Continuous Improvement?
The following are recommended engineering practices for implementing a learning program for continuous improvement.
- Assign roles and responsibilities to experts for defining a training program for DevOps continuous feedback (e.g., DevOps sensei, training PM, evangelist).
- Conduct a continuous feedback DevOps skills gap assessment.
- Define a training strategy that best address the gaps and fits the needs and priorities of the organization.
- Define a training budget that includes expenses and time allocations per role and skill.
- Determine which skills and roles can be covered by inexpensive self-study resources.
- Determine which skills and roles warrant more costly commercial training.
- Identify training goals for each role.
- Ensure recruiting job profiles match skill requirements for DevOps skills that are most relevant to the organization’s strategic goals.
- Create a continuous learning culture that encourages individuals to continuously gain knowledge and exchange experiences and ideas for DevOps and SRE.
- Build an active online library of DevOps and SRE training resources that tracks the latest and most innovative approaches to DevOps and SRE.
- Engage with industry thought leaders to continuously update con tent for DevOps and SRE teams to evolve their skills and advance their careers.
- Partner with trusted education and training partners to ensure the highest-quality learning content and tools are made available to DevOps and SRE teams.
- Put in place means to make training resources visible and available.
- Set training goals for teams and individuals.
- Put in place incentives and recognition programs for training.
- Track training progress.
Some of the best sources of DevOps training resources are listed below:
1. The DevOps Institute
2. Partners of The DevOps Institute, such as Learning Tree International and Xellentro.
3. Udemy.com
4. Recorded talks and publications of IT Revolution
5. Books such as my own Engineering DevOps, by Marc Hornbeek.
What This Means
The third way of DevOps—continuous improvement—requires an organizational commitment to continuous learning and mastery at the most advanced level. Typical skills needed include implementation and operation of advanced practices for microservices design and operations, advanced continuous testing, multi-pipelines, value stream management, SRE, observability, DevSecOps and AIOps. Analysis of DevOps results, third-party research sources, industry sources such as publications, articles, conferences, and tool vendors roadmaps for DevOps and related frameworks including site reliability engineering (SRE) and AIOps are good sources of information that stimulate self-directed teams to seek the training information that is most relevant to the organization’s DevOps improvements.
Organizations must approach DevOps training strategically and continuously to leverage training resources to best advantage. To learn more about my blueprint for learning all things DevOps, refer to my book Engineering DevOps.
