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Site Reliability Engineer – Explosion

The Practice Site Reliability Engineering (SRE) is a discipline that incorporates aspects of software engineering and applies that to operations with the goal of creating ultra-scalable and highly reliable software systems. It is an Explosion!  If you have taken any classes including ITIL4, DevOps, Agile, or Lean , you have probably heard how critical Site Reliability Engineering (SRE) is to the Value Streams and Pipelines that deliver products and services to this world. New concepts like understanding “Error Budgets” and the creation of anti-fragile environments are explored. You only need to visit one of the job sites and do a search on “Site Reliability Engineering” to see that there is a huge uplift in demand for Site Reliability Engineers. Try it! T he Role As a Site Reliability Engineer, you'll build solutions to enhance availability, performance, and stability for the resilience of services. You will also work towards a Continuous Delivery Pipeline by automati

Anatomy of an XLA

That is not a typo!   Alan Nance of CitrusCollab recently spoke about The Anatomy of an XLA in an ITSM Academy webinar.   I learned that the days of SLAs are behind us and the future lies with digital experience and eXperience Level Agreements (XLA’s).  If this is the first time you have heard of XLAs then this is a sticky-note moment.    By that I mean; find a sticky note, write down today's date.   Now write down XLA.   Remember that this is the day that you heard it and you heard it here!  XLAs are the foundation of a fresh and optimistic approach to managing the business of technology. Research for yourself and staff members. Learn and explore more about XLA’s! A little history: “Service Management exists to guarantee a valuable experience to customers and colleagues. Despite years of implementing best practices, the reputation of most technology departments is below par in the eyes of business leaders. Consider that 90% of CEOs feel they aren’t meeting their cu

A Dash of Neuroscience – DevOps Leaders Listen Up!

As leaders, we need to understand the people that we are leading.   It is critical to understand that this is a new world and if we are to lead the global enterprise into a successful future, we need to understand strategic, tactical and operational objectives of our organization and also that we must have a passion for learning. “A Dash of Neuroscience“ is one of many topics introduced by the DevOps Institute for the new updated DevOpsLeader course .   This information is taken from that course and is just a smattering of what you will learn as you prepare for your certification. Learn how to optimize speed to value as a DevOps Leader.   Live in a perpetual world of learning Many people feel their brains limit their potential and prevent them from learning.   However, learning can change our brains in terms of function, connectivity, and structure.   Our brain shapes our learning but learning shapes our brain, and research has shown that simply knowing about brain plastici

Continuous Delivery Architect – T-Shaped, PI-Shaped & COMB skills Required!

Is your organization transforming with AGILE, ITSM, DevOps or LEAN and looking forward to optimizing a Continuous Delivery Pipeline?  Do you want to be a Continuous Delivery Architect? This is an amazing and exciting time where you can dream and build upon what you have and develop the “COMB” shaped skills that will shape your future! The “2019 Upskilling Report for Enterprise DevOps Skills” reinforces that organization not only need “T” shaped skilled practitioners or even “PI” shaped skillsets. Many high performing organizations are looking for individuals that have “COMB” shaped skillsets. An individual with “COMB” skills would have a broad base of knowledge forming the top of the comb and then also have multiple expertise areas which gives the shape of a comb. You can start developing your skillsets or those of your team to shape individual career opportunities and also to shape the future of your organization. Expanding your skills is particularly needed for those inv

Continuous Delivery Architecture, A Rainbow of Tools

The Age  of Architecture   Architecture is one of those universal roles that no matter the job, it's critical you have a good understanding of the architecture to be successful in both development and operations. As with any architectural role, there are so many moving parts that if you can’t see the machine for the cog you’ll never be able to master your craft. The problem seems that because of the siloed nature of the business no one but those in architecture gets the lay of the land, it is in this challenge, Continuous Delivery Architecture was created to help ALL practitioners understand not only the big picture but the why and how every component is vital to success. What’s In The Toolbox To help you get an idea of the sheer quantity of tools that will be at your disposal I’ll give you the highlights reel. It starts with what we call a collective body of knowledge. This is a collection of materials (books, blogs, websites, etc.) to help you on your journey to learn. Th

DevOps – Skills For The Future – Am I ready?

Currently, 68% of organizations have begun to adopt, or plan to adopt #DevOps within the next two years. If you are reading this because you want to embrace DevOps certification, knowledge and skills be sure to visit the DevOps Campus .  This is all about DevOps skills? Are you ready? DevOps Institute recently generated a very unique and interesting report title “UPSKILLING: Enterprise DevOps Skills Report”. Below are a few excerpts with some thoughts added. Soft skills and technical skills “There is an equal balance between those who look for soft skills and those who seek technical skills when hiring externally or internally. About 30% of survey respondents said they look for soft skills first, as they believe they can always train or educate on the process and technical skills. And 32% looked first for technical skills to get benefits from the new hire. Thoughts: It’s easy to become absorbed in a need for technical knowledge. Although that is required it is really the people

DevOps and ITSM… Are They Compatible?

Many are surprised to learn that ITSM practices ARE compatible with their DevOps pipelines and even more important that they are a critical element in order to ensure the effectiveness, efficiency and the value that is expected. Those that are struggling with silos us vs. them blame games, or roadblocks and impediments for change and test, are shocked to learn how accelerated, modernized ITSM practices can enable their outcomes!  Topics and discussion from a recent ITSM for DevOps class were exciting as practitioners, managers, and leaders discovered together how It is possible to streamline and even automate their ITSM processes and practices so that people don’t even realize that they are executing ITSM processes. We don’t need to change “what” needs to be accomplished. Policy, Governance, and Compliance are a reality. In order to achieve true value and business outcomes service providers must change the way that they think. A change in thinking provokes a change in h