One of the most frequently stated key takeaways from DevOps Foundation Certification Candidates is the big AAH-HAA moment when they realize the difference between Continuous Delivery and Continuous Deployment. Terms matter and the context in which we use them can make or break the success of any DevOps pipeline for digital transformation . Which one of these you select for your organization will have a significant impact on the way you orchestrate ­­­­your DevOps Pipeline and your Continuous Delivery Architecture. It will most definitely help to define the appropriate tool pipeline, determine how you will utilize and program those tools for automation and will have an impact on the context of your communication plans to your stakeholders. How will you approach integrated testing? There is not one element of development and delivery that Continuous Delivery or Continuous Deployment will NOT impact. Therefore; It is critical to understand what they are, how they are the same, how they

ITIL 4 is coming! ITSM Academy is working hand and hand with the experts to ensure you achieve your mission. ITIL 4 Updates will be kept current for you so that you can stay the course . As a Global Strategic Partner of AXELOS (the owners of ITIL) we have been working with their teams, and the global community, to help ensure that ITIL 4 is "worth the wait". ITSM professionals have the opportunity to expand on the work, effort and skillsets that they gained from ITIL v3 and allow newcomers the opportunity to accelerate their ITSM and transformation initiatives. ITIL 4 will help us all to accelerate our productivity and to integrate Best Practices across the entire organization for real transformation and business value. ITIL 4 retains the best of ITIL v3/2011, with most of the operational and tactical practices and processes you know. The release also includes focus on integrating many best practice "frameworks". Think DevOps, Agile, Lean, etc. All good new

Communication and Education before Collaboration  An engineer attending a recent DevOps FND class for certification said “OMGosh! I have been trying to do DevOps and I really did not understand what it really was!” He knew that a self-organizing team was defined as a group of motivated individuals who work together toward a goal, have the authority to take decisions and readily adapt to changing demands. Solutions are derived from inter team collaboration. Innovation is the name of the game for digital transformations. All true but … “authority” without ability is dangerous.  Let’s not forget that before these teams are able to recommend innovative ideas for improvement that we must communicate the strategy and outcomes that deliver value. Also true is the fact that we must educate teams to continuously enhance their skills.  Challenge: During your next virtual or face to face meeting with staff, ask a few questions to validate that all are on the same page. You could as

A Continuous Delivery Architect (CDA) is a tool-agnostic individual engaged in the design, implementation and management of DevOps deployment pipelines and tool chains that support Continuous Integration, Continuous Delivery, Continuous Testing and, potentially, Continuous Deployment. A continuous delivery architect is also involved in defining or integrating underpinning processes, metrics, APIs and cultural considerations. Getting CDA certified prepares any IT professional engaged in the Continuous Delivery value stream . Not only will they know what to expect but could save a lot of time, money and effort to expedite the systems required to deliver. While earning a CDA Certification is a great compliment to the DevOps Foundation Certification , you might also find that it can help boost your career or prepare you for very needed positions coming up. The information and perspectives that one gains from shared experiences and class discussions is invaluable. Sometimes it is just a

"Culture eats strategy for breakfast." Peter Drucker “Every company wants to behave like a software company.” Sanjay Mirchandani As the business environment continues to evolve and change, an adoption of a digital-first mindset is taking place in boardrooms across the globe. Today’s organizations face a never-ending torrent of change from the dynamics of global economics and competition, to the ever more rapid advancements in technology. These can be perceived as both an opportunity and a threat. The ability to adapt and innovate rapidly in this environment has become a core organizational competency. A leader is needed to bring about this change. Adoption of DevOps can bring about those needed changes that allow an organization to remain competitive in today’s market space. A successful DevOps transformation begins with a value stream map which can allow us to see a time diagnostic of our delivery lifecycle. This flow-based representation gives us an end to end

AXELOS® is currently working on ITIL 4 , a community and industry-led initiative. A key finding from ongoing research is that ITIL is still widely adopted and used. So too are practices such as Agile (including Agile Service Management ), Lean and DevOps . These practices don’t make ITIL irrelevant. The ‘what’ and ‘why’ of ITIL – such as the need to focus on value and design for customer experience – continue to be relevant.  ITIL 4 also keeps many of the core practices and processes found in ITIL V3/2011 intact. It’s the ‘how’ that needs to be adapted as organizations learn and benefit from these modern practices. ITIL Practitioner introduces guiding principles that embrace the ‘essence’ of ITSM and Agile and Lean and DevOps. These guiding principles – which will be carried forward into ITIL 4 – serve as succinct reminders that modern ITSM requires new ways of thinking and new ways of working.  Numerous books have been written about how Toyota was able to dramatically improve

Applying DevOps principles and practices will be needed to ensure the DevOps values for Culture, Automation, Measurement and Sharing (CAMS). As major industries consider how to optimize for 2016, busting out of silos should be at the top of their list. This is true in all areas of service management and includes mainframe systems and applications.  Mainframe application and system development, like all areas of development, face many obstacles that include broken processes, obsolete tools and the common us vs. them mentality. Mainframe systems remain crucial for critical business knowledge and back-end support for customer engagement. What are service providers going to do when the mainframe developers retire or move to other positions? We have seen decades of progress on many platforms but in many cases mainframe code is still managed by siloed teams. Even so, things are moving in the right direction to increase and optimize the value stream for the development, deployment and on