Hey everyone. I would like to offer some advice, should you be willing to accept it. Do you feel like your workplace creates a sense of urgency through poor management and artificial crises? Do you feel that your work is being sabotaged by the work environment? Do you see a bunch of inept and or malicious mannequins where you expected to see leaders? You are not alone. I am typically hired as a senior software developer in my industry, and at my last job, from which I was laid off along with 3 dozen others, I was introduced to the DevOps Handbook. It was an eye opening and non-technical (no programming knowledge required) exploration of the white and blue collar work environment as viewed through the lenses and language of physical manufacturing, with a strong emphasis on LEAN and in particular comparisons to the Toyota Production Method. If you know you know, but for the uninitiated, the Toyota production method is what allowed japan to compete with Ford on cost and production volume, from across the pacific. The core tenets of the Toyota production method are the elimination of waste, continuous improvement, and respect for people. These nebulous terms have very specific technical meanings, but here is what that would look like in practice on Toyota's production floor:
- Elimination of Waste: This principle focuses on identifying and eliminating any activities or processes that do not add value to the end product. In a physical production environment, this is achieved by streamlining workflows, reducing inventory, and minimizing downtime – in essence, cutting out anything that doesn't contribute to creating a better, more efficient product or service. One concrete example of this is to reduce batch sizes. What does this mean? Well, imagine you are assembling a product, 10 copies, and you must complete certain steps before moving on to the next one. Step 1 precedes step 2 etc. In one scenario you do all the Step one 10 times, then step 2, etc. This is known as a large batch size. If there was a problem with step one that impacts step three, you don't actually learn this until you reach step three, at which point you now have at minimum 10 pieces of scrap metal. By reducing the batch size, say to completing step one and immediately moving to step 2 for each individual product, you increase the chances of catching issues early on, resulting in less waste and more efficient production.
- Continuous Improvement: The goal here is to foster a culture of ongoing learning and constant innovation. Employees at all levels of the organization are encouraged to look for ways to improve processes, share ideas, and collaborate on problem-solving. This is often achieved through regular brainstorm sessions, cross-functional team meetings, and feedback loops that provide employees with the opportunity to openly discuss and share improvements. One of the key aspects of continuous improvement is recognizing that no matter how good a process or product is, there's always room for improvement. It's important to stay open-minded and adaptable to change in order to keep up with the evolving needs of the business and customers. Toyota has a concept called “Kaizen,” which means “change for the better,” and all employees, from entry-level workers to management, are expected to take part in these continuous improvement efforts. As a concrete example, take the Andon Cord. The function and usage of the Andon Cord is simple: any employee can pull it to stop the assembly line if they notice an issue or potential problem. At the same time, everyone on the assembly line stops their work and swarms on not only resolving the cause of the issue, but implementing practices to prevent its re-occurrence. This empowers employees to take ownership of their work and helps ensure that the best possible product is produced.
- Respect for People: The final core tenet of the Toyota Production System is to treat employees with trust and respect. This means creating a supportive work environment that empowers employees to take ownership of their work, offers opportunities for growth and development, and fosters a positive culture. By showing respect for employees, management can create a more engaged, motivated, and loyal workforce that is invested in the success of the business. In practice, this might look like open-door policies that allow for direct communication between managers and employees, offering mentorship and learning opportunities, and recognizing and celebrating employee accomplishments and milestones. The factory floor workers have collective mastery over their domain, and this is recognized and leveraged by management. By allowing factory workers maximum autonomy over their own work, the most knowledgeable people are where the rubber meets the road.
Having seen Toyota's success, many manufacturers attempted to imitate Toyota's method, without consideration for the spirit behind it. This yielded the Just-In-Time production system, which is in large part the cause for the supply chain issues we all witnessed during COVID, especially in chip manufacturing. In short, the main pitfalls of Just In Time production are its focus on minimizing inventory to reduce costs and relying on precise delivery schedules to ensure the right parts arrive at the right time. While these practices can lead to increased efficiency and lower costs in ideal conditions, they are extremely vulnerable to disruption, as was seen during the pandemic. Companies that prioritize short-term cost savings over long-term stability end up paying a much higher price when supply chain disruptions occur.
Fast forward a couple of years, and we now have LEAN. LEAN short for Lean Enterprise, has nothing to do with trimming the fat, or 'cutting back', and is instead a generalization of the Toyota Production Method to apply to all forms of work. LEAN inherits the full spirit of the Toyota Production System. Two of the major tenets of LEAN include the deeply held belief that manufacturing lead times are the single best predictor of final product quality, and that short manufacturing lead times are best predicted by short batches of work. The spirit of lean seek to create positive feedback loops within the production system from end to end, so that any and all issues, ideally, automatically find their way to the best place for it to be addressed. From LEAN flowed Agile, specialized for the software factory floors, and from that flowed DevOps.
DevOps is a scary word. I'm not the biggest fan. I want to reiterate that DevOps needs nothing to do with software. You could successfully apply the DevOps handbook to Hospitals, Legal firms, accounting firms, churches, unions and insurgencies. The US Military has been adopting DevOps internally with astounding success (good for them /s). The air force lists the DevOps Handbook and the Pheonix Project as recommended reading for all officers. (https://software.af.mil/training/).
The three principles of DevOps are as follows:
- The principle of Flow: This principle emphasizes the need for smooth, continuous movement of work through the various stages of the production process. It seeks to minimize any roadblocks or bottlenecks that may slow down or disrupt the flow of work. In a non-physical production setting, this could mean streamlining communication between teams, automating repetitive tasks, or investing in tools and technology that help facilitate faster and more efficient workflows. The idea is to ensure that work can flow from inception to delivery seamlessly, reducing the chances of delays and inefficiencies.
- The principle of Feedback: In order to ensure that a product or service meets the desired quality standards and customer needs, it's crucial to establish effective feedback loops at every stage of the production process. This means regularly collecting feedback from customers, as well as from employees involved in the creation of the product or service. By actively seeking out and addressing any issues or inefficiencies, organizations can foster continuous improvement and ultimately deliver a higher-quality end product. Examples of implementing feedback loops in a software development context could include regular code reviews, automated testing, and frequent stakeholder check-ins to discuss progress and potential areas for improvement.
- The principle of Continuous Learning and Experimentation: One of the core tenets of DevOps is the belief that there is always room for improvement , and that fostering a culture of continuous learning and experimentation is crucial to achieving this. Encouraging employees to constantly challenge the status quo, try out new ideas, and learn from their successes and failures can drive innovation and help a company remain competitive in a constantly changing market. In a software development environment, this could involve regularly participating in industry conferences, workshops, and other educational events, providing employees with access to resources that enable them to stay up-to-date with the latest advancements in their field, and creating an open, collaborative environment where new ideas can be shared and explored without fear of criticism or retribution.
“Gee whiz,” I hear you say, “Why do I care?”
To this I only say: How many times have you been held responsible for the way production is done, simply because you were the cog where it failed?
DevOps paints a pretty picture of a nice world. How do we get there? Chapter 2 of the handbook, “Where to start” leads with the acknowledgement that, as a bureaucracy, your organization will be systematically resistant to change. I have witnessed this first hand. If you go in like good ol' Leeroy Jenkins and try to implement changes without proper planning, buy-in, and communication, you will likely face resistance and even backlash and termination! Instead, it's important to approach change strategically and thoughtfully, understanding that transforming an organization's culture and practices is a gradual process that starts from the bottom, with a small group of early adopters. You want to pick a project that has consistently long lead times, delays, or quality issues, and a team that is eager to see these resolved by any means necessary. The steps for doing so, all under the radar, are in the book. However, to make serious changes to the way the org functions, you may need to accumulate a portfolio of such project so that you can demonstrate to leadership that it is the only reasonable choice, and most importantly that not making the change will cost MORE than doing so. You cannot achieve widespread change without buy in from every level of the org.
The point is, work is broken. All work is broken. It is broken in systematic, precise, definable, and crucially, fixable ways. DevOps offers an alternative where that which is broken can be fixed forever. Push for these changes in your organization together. Get the handbook, pass it around. It's well worth the read. Work doesn't have to suck.