Merging your development and operations teams seems like a dream come true since both thrive on advanced technology and fast-paced projects. You’d imagine that throwing some amazing tools into the mix would make the transition much smoother and seamless. However, what’s necessary is to develop a culture that will enable your new DevOps team to grow as a unit, and not just a group of individuals doing their work independently. It’s about achieving better collaboration and results, which will ultimately lead to not just happier customers, but a stronger employee collective.
Employee retention, especially in this competitive field is tough, so establishing the right company culture in your DevOps team will make all the difference to inspire your teams to stay loyal to your brand. Here are a few tips to simplify the process and to help you recognize and resolve any potential issues along the way.
Empower cross-departmental collaboration
Your developer will “crack” any coding issue that comes their way, but they need to know the “why”, not just the “how”. Simply put, each and every person beyond your DevOps team can contribute to that particular department’s success, which in turn fuels your entire business success . Ask a marketer to do some research and see if there’s a market gap waiting for your software to fit right in. Talk to your sales team to see what kind of apps have sold best in the past to improve the interface and features.
In essence, cross-functional collaboration can bring many advantages to your DevOps team, as long as your culture allows it. Each individual can come up with creative ways to solve a problem, so it’s best to slowly build a culture that enables just that: creative, business-wide collaboration.
Set up a mentorship program
For some of your senior developers, it can be easy to forget their own humble beginnings. Then you have the newcomers, often insecure and too wary to share their ideas and ask questions that would normally help them learn. Your DevOps culture needs to be based on sharing knowledge and idea exchanges, no matter the experience level of each person involved.
Certifications and training happen occasionally, but mentorships never truly end. This is a simple way to empower a whole new level of mutual collaboration and support. It will help the newest, least experienced employees feel valued and accepted, while your senior employees will continue fortifying their skills through mentorship.
Choose the right environment for collaboration
There is no way to establish a DevOps culture successfully without the right tech tools. You need to create a stable structure and an environment in which all members of your team can seamlessly collaborate, whether they are all located at the office, or there are remote team members participating in each project. Many businesses simplify the transition by using comprehensive DevOps services that include migrating to the cloud, introducing the most effective tools, and creating the right project road map for your employees.
The right infrastructure for your DevOps processes will eliminate various issues, which in turn helps each team member perform their tasks more efficiently. That alone is enough to create a more seamless, stress-free mindset among your employees, helping them achieve their goals and support one another with ease.
Ensure regular training and education
In addition to the mentorship, you encourage among your experts, so that younger team members can quickly pick up new skills and grow, you should also make sure that each and every employee has room to advance. That means that ongoing education for individuals will fuel your entire DevOps team through personal growth.
After all, DevOps processes are based on agility and fast-paced adaptations, and each time new technology or new features are introduced into the mix, your employees need to be ready to tackle them with ease. Plus, education is one of the main motivators for individuals to stay loyal to a business, since that’s one more way to show that you’re prepared to invest in them.
Feedback loops are a must for transparency
For the most part, development and operations experts spend their time solving problems and coming up with novel solutions for the latest customer issues. They might love the challenge, but they also need to be recognized as a part of your organization. If they are struggling to communicate amongst themselves, it’s your turn to step in and help them resolve their conflicts.
Perhaps the same misunderstandings keep occurring regularly on different projects. Or some teammates are having trouble sharing their ideas because they don’t feel comfortable just yet. You’re essentially missing out on an opportunity to improve their daily workflow by not hearing them out. If you have remote employees, all the more reason to get them involved and hear what they have to say. So, introduce regular feedback sessions to resolve issues, talk about potential improvements, and hear their perspective. Every business culture should be based on transparency, and that goes for your DevOps team, too.
Expertise will always be a crucial ingredient in the success of your DevOps processes, but culture is at least as relevant and impactful as skills and knowledge. To enable the growth of that culture, start implementing these simple, but powerful suggestions into your own business etiquette. It will take some time, but you’ll soon recognize just how much your teams can advance with the right support and structure.
Guest authored by Jolene Rutherford a marketing specialist - turned blogger, currently writing for technivorz.com . Interested in digital marketing and new technology trends. Love sharing content that can help and inform people.