How to thwart your devops transformation with counterinsurgency doctrine

This session is a journey to the dark side.

The situation: You find yourself trying to halt the momentum building around a DevOps movement by a bunch of young upstarts in your organization. This emerging culture threatens the ways of working that have become standard (and comfortable) while building your career.

Your mission is to stop this DevOps transformation in its tracks.

Using the U.S. Army's Field Manual on Counterinsurgency, this session dives into the strategies and tactics used by the U.S. military to stop insurgencies and will teach attendees how to identify the other side's motivations so attendees can help advance a DevOps agenda within their organization.

Transcript

1. How to thwart
   your devops transformation
   with counterinsurgency doctrine
   Lindsay Holmwood
   @auxesis
   

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   The situation:
   

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   The situation:
   A bunch of young
   upstarts are trying to
   “do devops” at your job.
   

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   The situation:
   This threatens what you
   know and love about
   your job.
   

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   The situation:
   You need to stop this
   devops transformation
   in its tracks.
   

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   The solution?
   

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   The objective?
   

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    Capture this
    

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    “[Success requires the status
    quo] be accepted as legitimate
    by most of that uncommitted
    middle, which also includes
    passive supporters of both sides”

    – 1-108, FM 3-24
    

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    “it is usually not enough for
    counterinsurgents to get 51
    percent of popular support; a
    solid majority is often essential”

    – 1-109, FM 3-24
    

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    The principles?
    

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    1. Understand the Environment
    2. Insurgents Must Be Isolated from Their
    Cause and Support
    3. Use the Appropriate Level of Force
    4. Sometimes Doing Nothing is the Best
    Reaction
    

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    1. Understand the

    Environment
    

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    What is the 

    environment?

    culture + groups + narratives + values
    

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    Why devops?
    

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    Agree with the goals,
    Question the methods
    

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    Destroy the community
    

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    If you can, 

    stop cloud adoption
    before it happens
    

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    Slow it down to the
    point it’s no more
    effective than doing
    things on-prem
    

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    Co-opt language:
    “Safe and reliable”
    

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    Co-opt language:
    “We are already doing
    continuous delivery”
    

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    Take advantage of
    your insurgents’
    immaturity
    

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    Push as many changes
    as possible through

    change advisory boards
    

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    Use your intelligence

    

    The smarter you are, the better you
    are able to rationalize behavior to
    meet your goals.
    

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    2. Insurgents Must 

    Be Isolated 

    from their 

    Cause and Support
    

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    “It is easier to separate
    an insurgency from its
    resources and let it die
    than to kill every
    insurgent.”
    – 1-128, FM 3-24
    

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    “Eventually, the people
    marginalize and stigmatize
    insurgents to the point that
    the insurgency’s claim to
    legitimacy is destroyed.”

    – 1-130, FM 3-24
    

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    Separate
    insurgents from
    their resources
    

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    Money:
    Budget + People
    

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    Power:
    Executive backing
    

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    3. Use the 

    Appropriate 

    Level of Force
    

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    “An operation that kills five
    insurgents is
    counterproductive if
    collateral damage leads to
    the recruitment of fifty more
    insurgents.”
    – 1-141, FM 3-24
    

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    You can't be the
    villain all the time
    

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    “Who wields force is
    also important.”

    – 1-143, FM 3-24
    

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    Influence and
    motivate the
    uncommitted
    middle
    

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    Have them make
    the arguments for
    “no”
    

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    “[Success requires the status
    quo] be accepted as legitimate
    by most of that uncommitted
    middle, which also includes
    passive supporters of both sides”

    – 1-108, FM 3-24
    

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    4. Sometimes 

    Doing Nothing 

    is the 

    Best Reaction
    

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    “Often insurgents carry out a
    terrorist act or guerrilla raid
    with the primary purpose of
    enticing counterinsurgents
    to overreact”
    – 1-152, FM 3-24
    

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    You don’t have to
    fight with .
    

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    Respond, don’t
    react.
    

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    Why should
    I care?
    

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    Think of this as
    red teaming for
    organizational
    change
    

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    By knowing how
    you might be
    thwarted…
    

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    You can be
    several steps
    ahead.
    

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58. Thank you!
    Lindsay Holmwood
    @auxesis
    

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59. Want to learn more?
    Lindsay Holmwood
    @auxesis
    • Army Field Manual 3-24: Counterinsurgency
    • OSS Simple Sabotage Field Manual
    • Team of Teams by Gen. Stanley McChrystal
    

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