Tenger Ways cofounder, Adrienne Shulman, gave a recent talk at DevOps Connect: DevSecOps, a virtual event hosted by DevOps.com. In her talk, Adrienne introduces an emerging trend: applying DevOps principles and practices to the internal technology supporting business operations.

We are pleased to present the full recording of her talk, with highlights and main points discussed below.

DevOps for Business Operations

Teams that practice DevSecOps produce more resilient, secure, and easier-to-maintain software, and experience less stress and tend to be happier. But while we’ve improved how we build customer-facing products, the inside of the house has largely been left behind.

Many organizations are not satisfied with the state of their internal systems and tools. Without robust internal technology capabilities, business operations across marketing, sales, customer success, legal, finance and HR all suffer. What makes this more challenging is many internal technology teams report to a non-technical leader, often a CFO, who doesn’t know about DevOps or how to fix what they perceive as a problem with IT.

In this session Adrienne talks about the similarities between customer-facing software development and operational IT, how to incorporate DevSecOps practices into IT, and how to communicate the value of DevSecOps to non-technical leaders.

Key takeaways:
Internal IT might be comprised of mostly low-code and SaaS systems today, but it suffers the same challenges as customer-facing product development and can benefit from DevSecOps
Ideas for incorporating DevSecOps practices into operational IT, including platforms like Salesforce, Workday, Netsuite, ServiceNow and others
Advice for communicating the value of DevSecOps to non-technical leaders

Business Operations Defined (00:38)

For the purpose of this talk, DevOps for Business Operations refers to all internal tools & systems used to run a business.

Includes any of the technology used by Marketing, Sales, Customer Success, Customer Support, Legal, Finance and HR.
Mostly low code, no code SaaS platorms.
Examples: CRM, ERP, HRM, ETL, Business Intelligence, Salesforce, Hubspot, Zendesk, Netsuite, Oracle, SAP, Workday, Gainsight, Boomi, Informatica, etc.

Most startups don’t have this function, but as companies grow, they discover the need for a centralized or dedicated team supporting internal platforms. Common names include Business Applications, Business Systems, Enterprise Platforms, Internal Technology, Enterprise Systems.

Why We Need DevOps for Business Operations (03:20)

In the digital age, businesses run on technology. Yet many of the companies we talk to are dissatisfied with the current state of their internal technology platforms. The most common complaints we hear about internal IT today are:

Too slow. Projects take too long to finish. Go live dates get delayed again and again.
Poor quality. There are too many issues and defects once projects do go live, work that gets delivered ends up being wrong.
Too busy. Developers & admins are too busy with day-to-day operations and keeping the lights on to work on strategic initiatives.
Burn out. Teams are overwhelmed by heavy workloads, feeling as if they are on a treadmill, working hard, but going nowhere.
Complexity. People spend more time in meetings discussing work than doing work.
Mistrust. Business departments complain that IT doesn’t understand their needs, and IT complains about being unappreciated.

Introducing DevOps practices into Business Operations is the best way to solve these problems.

DevOps for Business Operations (10:25)

DevOps for Business Operations is an emerging field. While there are many similarities with DevOps for Software Development, it’s not the same thing since we’re mostly focused on low code and no code systems. To get an idea of what DevOps looks like in this environment, consider three focus areas we typically start with:

Make Work Visible. Create a system to document all work (Jira, Trello, Excel, PostIt Notes) and eliminate ad hoc requests, emails, shoulder taps. Reduces unplanned work, conflicting priorities, WIP.
Create an environment strategy. Most SaaS platform teams start with a production environment only. Consider needs across dev, sandbox, staging environments. Start automating tests and deployments. Make deployments safe with rollback strategies.
Run SaaS platforms like a product. Identify stakeholders, use empathy and design thinking to understand needs, cocreate rolling roadmaps. Think about architecture, UX, scalability. Go from order taker to product owner.

How to get started (16:25)

Once you believe DevOps is a good approach for creating high-performing internal technology capabilities, where do you begin? Advice for getting started:

Understand the mindset of your non-technical C-Suite leader. Executives want certainty. How much will this cost, when will it be done, what is the benefit? They are busy, they don’t want drama, they just want IT to work.
Introduce the concept of DevOps. If DevOps is brand new, the best thing you can do is just plant the seed and paint the picture for a better way of working. The worst thing you can do is force it on people.
Talk is cheap. The most impactful change is to work small and start the shift towards continuous delivery. Introduce the concept of MVP and separate wants from needs. Everything changes once flow is introduced and shipping starts.

What Next (23:32)

We’re passionate about helping organizations adopt DevOps practices, not just because it creates better business results, but because it makes people happier and less stressed. Tenger Ways is the only consulting firm dedicated to applying DevSecOps practices to business applications and internal technology. If you would like some additional support from people who have been dedicated to this work for years, or you are working on this field and want to collaborate, let’s talk.

Reference

DevOps Connect main event page: https://www.techstrongevents.com/devopsconnect-devsecops-rsac-2023/home
Watch Adrienne’s talk OnDemand: https://www.techstrongevents.com/devopsconnect-devsecops-rsac-2023/v/s-1468955?i=m4N97NbEI9LT_rn89e3Xq6HomU21viRa
Send feedback to letstalk@tengerways.com

DevOps for Business Operations