DevOps is Not War

Over the past 500 years, there have been 16 cases of a rising power threatening to displace a ruling power. 75% of those cases resulted in war. Although your organizational transformation probably won’t lead to war, it could be contentious. History can help prevent conflict when driving change. This talk will analyze human tendencies, historical data, and provide real-world examples of how to avoid conflict during your DevOps journey.

DevOps needs to focus on more than Dev and Ops to be truly transformative for an organization. What about your security folks? What about your network team? We’ll introduce the work of Thucydides and the concept of Thucydides’s Trap, a political scientist’s take on how rising and established powers are destined for conflict. Transformations can often be contentious and sometimes rebellious. History can actually help us avoid failure in our transformations. The more the merrier along this journey!

Transcript

1. DevOps is Not War Chris Short Red Hat @ChrisShort devopsish.com
2. @ChrisShort
3. whoami @ChrisShort devopsish.com
5. @ChrisShort devopsish.com
6. Your Chances of Taking Fire During Day-to-Day Operations* ~0% * Research conducted by the Chris Short Academy of Statistics Gathering (He Made it Up) @ChrisShort devopsish.com
7. @ChrisShort devopsish.com
8. @ChrisShort devopsish.com
9. Getting Started History can help can prevent conflict when driving change. ➔ Thucydides Who is Thucydides? ➔ Graham Allison Who is Graham Allison? ➔ Thucydides Trap What is it? Why should we care? @ChrisShort devopsish.com
10. Thucydides c. 460 – c. 400 BC Athenian historian and general History of the Peloponnesian War "Father of Scientific History" "Father of the school of political realism" Photo: Walter Maderbacher @ChrisShort devopsish.com
11. Photo: U.S. Naval War College Graham Allison American political scientist Professor at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard US national security and defense policy analyst Defense Medal for Distinguished Public Service recipient @ChrisShort devopsish.com
12. Thucydides Trap Allison coined "Thucydides Trap" "Refers to the natural, inevitable discombobulation that occurs when a rising power threatens to displace a ruling power." "This can happen in any sphere." Source: Destined for War: Can America and China Escape Thucydides’s Trap? @ChrisShort devopsish.com
13. Portugal vs. Spain ☮ France vs. Hapsburgs Hapsburgs vs. Ottoman Empire Hapsburgs vs. Sweden Dutch Republic vs. England France vs. Great Britain United Kingdom vs. France France and United Kingdom vs. Russia France vs. Germany "Over the past 500 years, in sixteen cases a major rising power has threatened to displace a ruling power. In twelve of those, the result was war" China and Russia vs. Japan United Kingdom vs. United States ☮ United Kingdom (supported by France, Russia) vs. Germany (aka WWI) Soviet Union, France, and United Kingdom vs. Germany (aka WWII) United States vs. Japan (aka WWII) United States vs. Soviet Union (aka Cold War) ☮ United Kingdom and France vs. Germany ☮ @ChrisShort devopsish.com
14. "The four cases that avoided this outcome did so only because of huge, painful adjustments in attitudes and actions on the part of challenger and challenged alike." Source: Destined for War: Can America and China Escape Thucydides’s Trap? @ChrisShort devopsish.com
15. Bridging the Two Let's bridge the gap between Thucydides's Trap and DevOps or "Digital Transformation" ➔ Dev and Ops Closer than ever ➔ Fear What are we afraid of as technologists? ➔ UK vs. US (Early 20th Century) How did this transition end peacefully? @ChrisShort devopsish.com
16. @ChrisShort devopsish.com
17. @ChrisShort devopsish.com https://cshort.co/8floppy
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19. If you want to read USSTRATCOM's Agile DevOps call out https://cshort.co/nukeops @ChrisShort devopsish.com
20. Malarkey! Your organization has no excuse. "That won't work here." @ChrisShort devopsish.com
21. Fear "It was the rise of Athens and the fear that this instilled in Sparta that made war inevitable." Source: Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs @ChrisShort devopsish.com
22. Fear Causes Resistance "Fear leads to anger. Anger leads to hate. Hate leads to suffering." —Jedi Master Yoda @ChrisShort devopsish.com
23. Fear It's the rise of something new (DevOps) and the fear it instills in people that makes conflict possible. @ChrisShort devopsish.com
24. United Kingdom vs. United States Early 20th Century Peaceful transition between established world power and rising super power US economy outpaced UK economy "a war with America … has become something more than a possibility." Teddy Roosevelt expanded US Navy Monroe Doctrine led to UK having no allies in Western Hemisphere UK conceded global power to focus on European issues pre-WWI Source: Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs @ChrisShort devopsish.com
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26. Bettering Our World DevOps isn't merely automation or tearing down silos. DevOps is about improving business outcome and work environments. ➔ DevOps: The War Crime Are we going about this wrong? ➔ What About Everyone Else Security, Networking, etc. ➔ DevOps Isn’t Just for IT Don't discredit those not writing code ➔ Change and Failing Fast @ChrisShort devopsish.com
27. DevOps: War Crime? What happens to my job? Will I have to completely relearn everything I know? I’ve worked so hard to get here and now I have to pivot?!? "Should I just retire now?" @ChrisShort devopsish.com
28. What About Networking? What happens when you need more hardware? Eek! Network Engineers are awesome at VLANs, subnets, NAT, VPNs, etc. Imagine if your network folks could automate and iterate as fast as you @ChrisShort devopsish.com
29. What About Security? DevSecOps is a necessary term Will I have to completely relearn everything I know? I’ve worked so hard to get here and now I have to pivot?!? "Should I just retire now?" @ChrisShort devopsish.com
30. DevOps Isn’t Just for IT Business processes matter The more allies the better C-Suite, Marketing, Legal, Sales, Finance, etc. can all help @ChrisShort devopsish.com
31. Change and Failing Fast Different isn’t always bad "Throwing good money after bad" Safety 1 vs. Safety 2 — Check out Sidney Dekker's works Remember: Pulling the Andon Cord is Good @ChrisShort devopsish.com
32. Conclusion They won't let me talk forever We know people can feel threatened by DevOps Finding Allies and creating successes together is key (UK & US in WWI) Early inclusion and concessions are keys to success Fail fast Be a learning organization @ChrisShort devopsish.com
33. I must study politics and war that my [children] may have liberty to study mathematics and philosophy. John Adams, 2nd President of the United States @ChrisShort devopsish.com
34. Thank You @ChrisShort devopsish.com https://cshort.co/devops-not-war