[clue] Devops at work?

[David L. Willson]

Opinion: 

We tend to under-value simplicity. The best corrective is to value speed more highly and to realize that speed comes at the cost of avoided and sacrificed complexity. 

I think simplification happens best as an ongoing practice of reduction. Everyone on the team should always be asking, "Do we really need this bit here? Is this the best and simplest way to do this, or is it slowing us down?" And then fearlessly cutting off and burning any bits that aren't paying their way in reward for work invested. Not for nothing did Amazon call their conference "re-invent". 

The hardest part is throwing away the old, crufty things that one has invested in. Maybe it's like cleaning closets, best to do when one is a little annoyed, and ready to slash and burn. 

You say "barrel of fish-hooks" and I instantly recall a gruesome scene from Hell-raiser. Damn, that was a good horror movie. 

-- 
David L. Willson 
Teacher, Engineer, Evangelist 
RHCE+Satellite CCAH Network+ A+ Linux+ LPIC-1 Ubuntu_CP SUSE_CLA 
Mobile 720-333-LANS(5267) 
http://sofree.us 

This is a good time for a r3VOLution. 

----- Original Message -----

> I'd be interested too. Frankly, I'm just coming up on my 5th month in
> a devops job, and I've got allot to learn. My immediate concern is
> the whole environment feels like an absolute barrel of fishhooks in
> the sense that we have a billion moving dependencies and hardly
> anyone knows much of anything about any of them. Apparently most of
> the ideas I've heard concerning "innovation" seem to involve either
> adding more fishhooks, or adding open-source fishhooks. I'm starting
> to wonder if maybe the way to go is to simplify.

> Mike B

> On Thu, Nov 12, 2015 at 11:13 AM, Quentin Hartman <
> qhartman at gmail.com > wrote:

> > Sorry for the delay, I've been sick for the last several days and
> > ignoring email...
> 

> > I'd be interested if it works in with my schedule. Email me
> > off-list
> > and we can discuss details.
> 

> > QH
> 

> > On Tue, Nov 10, 2015 at 8:55 PM, Sruthi Annamnidu <
> > sruthi.kumar.a at gmail.com > wrote:
> 

> > > Hi Quentin,
> > 
> 

> > > If you have few minutes, how about presenting a basic talk on
> > > DevOps
> > > next month? You do not have to present any slides or anything but
> > > just a quick overview would help. What do you think?
> > 
> 

> > > Thank you,
> > 
> 
> > > Sruthi Kumar
> > 
> 

> > > On Mon, Nov 2, 2015 at 3:54 PM, Quentin Hartman <
> > > qhartman at gmail.com
> > > > wrote:
> > 
> 

> > > > I don't have time to give a detailed answer now, but I "use
> > > > devops"
> > > > at work, and it's generally a postiive change. I'll try to
> > > > respond
> > > > in more detail later...
> > > 
> > 
> 

> > > > QH
> > > 
> > 
> 

> > > > On Mon, Nov 2, 2015 at 7:14 AM, Charles Burton <
> > > > charles.d.burton at gmail.com > wrote:
> > > 
> > 
> 

> > > > > I'm starting to push us down that road, which is a fairly
> > > > > interesting
> > > > > transition in research. It's a slow process, but I'm laying
> > > > > the
> > > > > groundwork for it right now. For instance I've setup Salt to
> > > > > handle
> > > > > all the steps involved in setting up new systems and built
> > > > > images
> > > > > that people can load on the VM servers that just require
> > > > > setting
> > > > > the
> > > > > hostname and enabling Salt. Then I tied it into Foreman and
> > > > > I've
> > > > > been working on building application profiles so that people
> > > > > just
> > > > > select one from Foreman for whatever work they want to do on
> > > > > their
> > > > > systems. Next up is building the provisioning, but as our
> > > > > leadership
> > > > > chose Citrix Xen a few years ago it's a bit tricky at the
> > > > > moment.
> > > > > That and we're dealing with lots of old crufty baggage from
> > > > > years
> > > > > of
> > > > > cowboy ops that I'm still working on cleaning up. I'm the
> > > > > biggest
> > > > > change agent right now, but there is a lot coming down from
> > > > > above
> > > > > as
> > > > > well. We're NOAA so we're subject to rules from the
> > > > > Government
> > > > > and
> > > > > those have been the stick I've been using to effect change
> > > > > lately.
> > > > > Basically I got senior management on board, the Federal
> > > > > security
> > > > > team, and started by offering the carrot of a really good and
> > > > > easy
> > > > > to use platform backed by the stick of if the DHS tells me to
> > > > > shut
> > > > > something off I'll do it immediately.
> > > > 
> > > 
> > 
> 

> > > > > On Sat, Oct 31, 2015 at 10:53 AM, Sean LeBlanc <
> > > > > seanleblanc at comcast.net > wrote:
> > > > 
> > > 
> > 
> 

> > > > > > Anyone doing devops thing at work? Depending on what that
> > > > > > may
> > > > > > mean,
> > > > > > of
> > > > > 
> > > > 
> > > 
> > 
> 
> > > > > > course...there is of course more the mindset and the
> > > > > > collaboration
> > > > > > and
> > > > > 
> > > > 
> > > 
> > 
> 
> > > > > > the processes and politics that may be updated or maybe
> > > > > > completely
> > > > > 
> > > > 
> > > 
> > 
> 
> > > > > > disrupted (possibly in very good ways), but I'm also
> > > > > > interested
> > > > > > in
> > > > > 
> > > > 
> > > 
> > 
> 
> > > > > > specific technical/engineering practices. (*)
> > > > > 
> > > > 
> > > 
> > 
> 

> > > > > > Things like "literate devops", for example:
> > > > > 
> > > > 
> > > 
> > 
> 

> > > > > > http://www.howardism.org/Technical/Emacs/literate-devops.html
> > > > > 
> > > > 
> > > 
> > 
> 

> > > > > > What about pipelines in Jenkins and tools like
> > > > > 
> > > > 
> > > 
> > 
> 
> > > > > > Puppet/Chef/Docker/Vagrant/Ansible/Salt to provision
> > > > > > systems
> > > > > > and
> > > > > > start
> > > > > 
> > > > 
> > > 
> > 
> 
> > > > > > incorporating more development practices (such as SCM)
> > > > > > within
> > > > > > the
> > > > > > wider
> > > > > 
> > > > 
> > > 
> > 
> 
> > > > > > IT organization?
> > > > > 
> > > > 
> > > 
> > 
> 

> > > > > > How do you use those things? Have they paid off? Have you
> > > > > > been
> > > > > > a
> > > > > > "change
> > > > > 
> > > > 
> > > 
> > 
> 
> > > > > > agent" pushing these sort of things to make your life
> > > > > > better,
> > > > > > or
> > > > > > has
> > > > > > it
> > > > > 
> > > > 
> > > 
> > 
> 
> > > > > > come from an external force (i.e., part of the
> > > > > > command-and-control
> > > > > 
> > > > 
> > > 
> > 
> 
> > > > > > structure of a corporation) and "devops" means something
> > > > > > quite
> > > > > > different
> > > > > 
> > > > 
> > > 
> > 
> 
> > > > > > to them?
> > > > > 
> > > > 
> > > 
> > 
> 

> > > > > > I ask because I went to Denver BSides last year (and this
> > > > > > year)
> > > > > > and
> > > > > > they
> > > > > 
> > > > 
> > > 
> > 
> 
> > > > > > had a panel of people to talk about DevOps, but not nearly
> > > > > > enough
> > > > > > time
> > > > > 
> > > > 
> > > 
> > 
> 
> > > > > > for all the questions they were getting from the audience.
> > > > > > I
> > > > > > got
> > > > > > only
> > > > > 
> > > > 
> > > 
> > 
> 
> > > > > > one question in, and it was just before lunch, so there was
> > > > > > a
> > > > > > hard
> > > > > > stop.
> > > > > 
> > > > 
> > > 
> > 
> 

> > > > > > (*) For instance, see here:
> > > > > > http://theagileadmin.com/what-is-devops/
> > > > > 
> > > > 
> > > 
> > 
> 
> > > > > > What "devops" means seems to be a very fluid definition,
> > > > > > much
> > > > > > like
> > > > > 
> > > > 
> > > 
> > 
> 
> > > > > > "Agile" itself. There is definitely both engineering
> > > > > > practices
> > > > > > as
> > > > > > well
> > > > > 
> > > > 
> > > 
> > 
> 
> > > > > > as the "what is visible to management, especially
> > > > > > non-technical
> > > > > 
> > > > 
> > > 
> > 
> 
> > > > > > management" part within "Agile", especially Scrum, and that
> > > > > > presents
> > > > > > a
> > > > > 
> > > > 
> > > 
> > 
> 
> > > > > > very real problem when trying to talk about these subjects.
> > > > > 
> > > > 
> > > 
> > 
> 
> > > > > > _______________________________________________
> > > > > 
> > > > 
> > > 
> > 
> 
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> > 
> 
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> > 
> 

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