Achieving DevOps: A Novel About Delivering the Best of Agile, DevOps, and Microservices

Ben is stuck. A development lead with a strong vision for how the intersection of development and operations at his office can be improved, he can’t help but feel overwhelmed and discouraged by common problems such as slow turnaround time, rushed and ineffective handover documentation, mounting technical debt, and a lagging QA process. What steps should Ben take to build the momentum needed to create positive changes within his company?

In this unique business novel by Dave Harrison and Knox Lively, two DevOps professionals with years of diverse experience in the industry, you follow Ben as he solves work frustrations in order to adopt Agile, DevOps, and microservices architectures for his organization. Achieving DevOps addresses the “Now what?” moment many DevOps professionals face on their journey. The story provides you with the knowledge you need to navigate the internal political waters, build management support, show measurable results, and bring DevOps successfully into your organization.

Come away with practical lessons and timeless business concepts. You’ll know how to effect change in a company from the bottom up, gain support, and instill a pattern of progressively building on success. Experience Ben’s progress vicariously in Achieving DevOps and bridge the gap between inspiration and the implementation of your own DevOps practices.

Who This Book Is For

Those serving as change agents who are working to influence and move their organizations toward a DevOps approach to software development and deployment: those working to effect change from the bottom up such as development leads, QA leads, project managers, and individual developers; and IT directors, CTOs, and others at the top of an organization who are being asked to lend their support toward DevOps implementation efforts

About the Authors

Dave Harrison is Senior Consultant at Microsoft Premier, specializing in DevOps and Agile. As a development lead and project manager, he has spearheaded cultural revolutions in several large retail and insurance organizations and made the leap to agile development and continuous delivery. He is an enthusiastic promoter of release management using tools such as Chef, Puppet, Ansible, and Docker. He believes very firmly that, as with agile development, the exact tool selected is less important than having the people and processes in place and ready. He is the proud father of two beautiful girls, has been married to his lovely wife Jennifer for 24 years, and is based out of Portland, Oregon, USA. He enjoys fishing, reading history books, and in his spare time often wonders if he should be doing more around the house instead of goofing off.

Knox Lively is Lead DevOps Engineer at Songtrust, a NYC-based music startup. As a seasoned DevOps engineer in the entertainment industry, he has built out entire DevOps departments, consulted as an architect with various firms, and tried his hardest to automate himself out of a job. Bringing a rather Zen approach to DevOps, he enjoys reducing complexity in various environments, as well as increasing visibility into those systems with rigorous and intelligent monitoring. When not behind the keyboard, he spends his time traveling, fly-fishing, and searching New York, USA for the perfect bowl of pho.