Lean Blog Interviews: Real-World Lean Leadership Conversations in Healthcare and Beyond John Willis on Deming's Journey to Profound Knowledge in IT & DevOps
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Mar 12, 2025 In this discussion, John Willis, a veteran IT management expert and co-author of The DevOps Handbook, explores the integration of Deming's philosophies with modern IT practices. He emphasizes the importance of systems thinking and psychological safety in effective incident management and cybersecurity. John recounts his journey through DevOps history, the impact of the Phoenix Project, and how eliminating fear can enhance team performance. He also highlights the relevance of Deming's principles in addressing contemporary IT risks and cybersecurity challenges.
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Early Cray Experience Shaped Career
- John Willis described starting at Exxon with the 100th Cray supercomputer and writing a commercial accounting system for it.
- That early mainframe and assembler experience shaped his career in infrastructure and systems thinking.
Starting DevOps Days In The U.S.
- John recalled running the first U.S. DevOps Days and meeting Gene Kim, which led to collaboration on DevOps books.
- Those events connected operations, Agile, and Lean into a movement that birthed The DevOps Handbook.
Deming Reframed IT Challenges
- Discovering Deming reframed John’s view of modern IT problems as longstanding management and systems issues.
- He traced contemporary DevOps challenges back to Deming's principles of quality, variation, and systems thinking.
