How to approach DevOps

I’ll admit it: I love new tech and probably love making things more complicated than they need to be.  In fact, the only reason I know how to code is that I built the product on my first startup rather than do the sensible thing and focus on marketing and finding a technical co-founder (different story).  Anyways, this enthusiasm has often led me to create overly complex systems that, while exciting, weren't always practical. Over the past decade of writing code and managing projects, I’ve learned some valuable lessons that run against many industry standards. These insights are not conventional, but they’ve proven effective in the real world. I hope the following principles help you manage your projects more efficiently and avoid some of the pitfalls I’ve encountered.

At Rock Valley Tech, our unique approach sets us apart from traditional tech consultants. We blend well-established frameworks with counter-intuitive principles that drive efficiency, clarity, and collaboration. Here’s how we do it:

Our Approach to Tech

We could spend a lot of ink on making this more complicated than it needs to be.  We believe in keeping technological design and principles simple and adhering, as closely as possible, to the AWS Well-Architected Framework.  This ensures our solutions are robust, secure, efficient, well-grounded, and scalable. This industry-standard framework guides our technical decisions and ensures that our infrastructure solutions meet the highest standards of excellence.

Our Approach to Everything Else

The following principles guide all of our decisions, including those technical.

1. Human-Focused: All considerations, even those technical, ultimately come down to the people involved and the processes they follow. We believe that the success of any technology depends on who uses it and how it’s implemented. I remember when my startup was struggling, the key to turning it around was focusing on our team's processes and interactions.
2. Engineers Don’t Think About Maintaining What They Build: We recognize that maintenance is often an afterthought for engineers. Our approach ensures that maintenance considerations are integrated, reducing long-term technical debt. I've made this mistake before, leading to countless hours of frustration and rework. Learning from that, we now prioritize maintainability from day one.
3. Cost Considerations Must Include Engineer Compensation: When evaluating costs, we include the salaries of engineers required to maintain the systems. This holistic view ensures that our solutions are cost-effective in the short term and throughout their lifecycle. This approach often challenges the conventional view but results in more sustainable business practices.
4. Limit Your Responsibility: We ensure focused, high-quality outcomes by clearly defining and limiting our responsibilities. This principle helps us maintain clarity and efficiency in our engagements. Early in my career, trying to do everything led to burnout and mediocre results. Now, we focus on what we do best. Similarly, engineering teams need to offload, as much as possible, anything that doesn’t contribute to the value they provide their customers.
5. Why Decisions Were Made Is as Important as the Decisions Themselves: Documenting the rationale behind decisions is crucial. Understanding the 'why' helps maintain continuity and provides context for future improvements and troubleshooting. Projects fail because people need to remember why confident choices were made. We ensure this never happens by maintaining clear documentation.
6. Clear Lineage Between Work and Documentation: We ensure a transparent lineage between tickets and commits, architectural patterns, and meetings or messages. This clarity facilitates better tracking, accountability, and understanding of changes. This principle was born from the chaos I experienced in poorly documented projects.
7. Better Collaboration Results in Less Communication: Effective collaboration should minimize the need for excessive communication. Our approach promotes streamlined processes that reduce the need for constant back-and-forth, freeing time for productive work. I've found that a well-coordinated team can communicate less but achieve more.
8. Consistency in Organizational Behavior: How an organization handles one aspect of its operations reflects its overall approach. We strive for consistency and excellence across all areas to ensure cohesive and reliable outcomes. This principle comes from my observation that teams often replicate their successes—or failures—across different projects.
9. Leverage in Standardization and Centralization: Standardization and centralization offer more leverage than chasing the latest technologies. We focus on creating reliable, repeatable processes that enhance efficiency and stability. This might be controversial in a world that values the newest tech, but it’s a stance that delivers results.
10. Scalable Engineering Resources: Like your servers, you should be able to scale your engineering resources up and down as needed. Our flexible approach allows you to adjust your DevOps capacity to match your business demands.

Wrapping Up

At Rock Valley Tech, we combine proven frameworks with innovative principles to deliver superior DevOps solutions. Our human-focused, process-driven approach ensures that every technical decision is aligned with your organizational needs, resulting in sustainable, scalable, and efficient outcomes. If you want to improve your DevOps practices and drive meaningful change in your organization, contact us today—partner with us to experience the Rock Valley Tech difference.