Rebuilding DevOps with System Initiative’s Brit Myers
Dec 28, 2023
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Scott Hanselman chats with Brit Myers, the VP of Engineering at System Initiative, about the current state of DevOps, challenges faced by engineers, cultural importance, simplifying workflows, continuous learning, and faster, better, safer software delivery.
DevOps is a continuous journey of discovering and implementing solutions to address challenges in software delivery.
The 'last mile' in software delivery, or shipping software to users, presents the most problematic part of the process and requires addressing bottlenecks.
Deep dives
The Frustration of Bug Reports and the Solution with Jam.dev
The episode discusses the frustration developers face when receiving bug reports with insufficient details. It introduces Jam.dev as a free tool that saves developers from this frustration by ensuring bug reports include essential information like videos, console logs, network requests, and network speed. The tool is easy to use and compatible with Chrome and Edge. By using Jam.dev, developers can save time and avoid unnecessary back-and-forth communication to debug issues.
The Organic Journey to DevOps
The conversation explores how many professionals stumbled upon DevOps as an answer to the challenges they faced in software delivery. The guest, Britt Myers, shares that her journey to DevOps was organic, driven by the pain of delivering software. Rather than knowing about DevOps as a solution, she started by addressing the difficulties in software delivery and sought ways to improve the process. Throughout her career, she has been in between leading and learning from others, experimenting, and replicating successful practices. The focus is on the ongoing journey of discovering and implementing solutions, rather than just following industry trends.
The Last Mile Problem in Software Delivery
The conversation emphasizes the significance of the 'last mile' in software delivery, referring to the challenges faced when shipping software. While writing software and testing it present difficulties, delivering it to users is often the most problematic part. The guest, Britt Myers, explains how her initial paper-cut problem was shipping software, leading her to focus on solving the bottlenecks in the delivery process. This realization launched her career and highlights the importance of looking beyond development to address the challenges in getting software into the hands of users.
The Need for Collective Ownership and Shared Context in DevOps
The episode delves into the concept of collective ownership and shared context in DevOps. Collective ownership is highlighted as an effective approach as long as the problem-solving can be completed autonomously within a team. However, as dependencies arise and progress is hindered by external factors, the need for shared understanding and collaboration increases. The guest emphasizes the socio-organizational challenges underlying collective ownership. The conversation focuses on the importance of considering the scope of problems, shared goals, shared tools, and contextual understanding to foster effective collaboration and problem-solving in DevOps.
In this episode, Scott chats with Brit Myers, the VP of Engineering at System Initiative, a company that helps organizations adopt DevOps best practices. Brit shares her insights on the current state of DevOps, the challenges and opportunities it presents, and how System Initiative is building a platform that simplifies and streamlines DevOps workflows. They also discuss the importance of culture, collaboration, and continuous learning in DevOps, and how System Initiative is empowering developers to deliver faster, better, and safer software.
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