What does Westrum's typology tell us about DevOps?

Nicole Forsgren, Chef (@nicolefv)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hnm8m74mjYw

Transcript

1. WHAT DOES WESTRUM’S TYPOLOGY TELL US ABOUT DEVOPS? Nicole Forsgren, PhD Chef Software
2. A Typology of Organisational Cultures Is the use of Westrum even appropriate? @nicolefv
3. A Typology of Organisational Cultures Is the use of Westrum even appropriate? Original Context Healthcare ▪  High risk ▪  Complex, adaptive system ▪  Information flow is important –  Westrum 2004 DevOps Context Technology ▪  High risk ▪  Complex, adaptive system ▪  Information flow is important –  Forsgren Velasquez 2008 –  Allspaw 2015 @nicolefv
4. A Typology of Organisational Cultures Is the use of Westrum even appropriate? Original Context Healthcare ▪  High risk ▪  Complex, adaptive system ▪  Information flow is important –  Westrum 2004 DevOps Context Technology ▪  High risk ▪  Complex, adaptive system ▪  Information flow is important –  Forsgren Velasquez 2008 –  Allspaw 2015 @nicolefv
5. So what does Westrum’s typology tell us about DevOps? ▪  Information flow is good ▪  Trust is good ▪  Culture can predict how teams will behave when things go wrong ▪  Culture is associated with error reporting ▪  Culture is predictive of outcomes –  Risk and safety –  Performance @nicolefv
6. Westrum’s cultures Pathological Power-oriented Bureaucratic Rule-oriented Generative Performance-oriented Low cooperation Modest cooperation High cooperation Messengers shot Messengers neglected Messengers trained Responsibilities shirked Narrow responsibilities Risks are shared Bridging discouraged Bridging tolerated Bridging encouraged Failure leads to scapegoating Failure leads to justice Failure leads to inquiry Novelty crushed Novelty leads to problems Novelty implemented 15% 52% 33% @nicolefv
7. Westrum and culture: Let’s make work better ▪ Improve our communication ▪ Improve our trust ▪ This will improve our work outcomes as well as the way our work feels @nicolefv
8. THANK YOU nicole@chef.io @nicolefv nicoleforsgren.com