MAY 2016CIOAPPLICATIONS.COM8Measuring DevOps--Where Are You on the Cheat Scale?Peter Waterhouse, Senior Strategist, CA Technologiesuch has been written on the subject of DevOps metrics. Especially how many organizations are using manufacturing-like KPI's such as lead/cycle times and defect counts to assess IT performance. Of course these metrics are worth scrutinizing, since the fast delivery of high-quality apps from our software factories has become a major imperative in an application-driven economy. When we adopt these metrics, we understand that they're influenced by many others. For example, a Net Promoter Score or customer satisfaction index will depend on a combo of elements ­ like how fast you deploy valuable widgets and how quickly you can fix them when things go south. Similarly, customer conversions through mobile channels, will be influenced by factors within and beyond our control ­ like app deployment frequency rates and eas e-o f-u s e/desig n, but also by device and network reliability.This is all great and well understood, but often in the quest for metrics nirvana we forget to include the basic and obvious. In fact ignoring one basic element can derail a DevOps initiative faster than a sneeze disappearing in a snowstorm. It's Called Cheating.Now this doesn't involve teams of agile developers juicing up the code-base with illegal substances, or operations participating in elicit cloud gambling activities. Nope, it's more about any individual or team taking advantage of existing conditions and loopholes to circumvent processes or remove constraints. Cheating might seem harsh because the act isn't necessarily dishonest. However, if the individual is incentivized to do it, or the act puts the organization at risk, then the business has been cheated ­ it's that simple.Cheating Manifests Itself in Many Ways Across the Software Pipeline. For Example:· Ace up the sleeve ­ a mobile app developer who needs infrastructure for some critical A/B testing. Frustrated at the amount of time it takes operations to release systems needed for testing and with the cajoling of a business unit manager, he procures some cloud services and starts mocking up some test patterns ­ easy peasy. There's a limit to how often you can use that extra card ­ it doesn't scale. When unavailable In My OpinionM
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