[OA.LS.2] Align DevOps adoption with business objectives
Category: FOUNDATIONAL
DevOps adoption should not be an isolated project within the organization. It should be aligned to broader business goals, fully supported by leadership, with other teams also adopting capabilities to streamline their individual value streams. Synchronizing DevOps adoption and the overall business strategy means that the resources and effort put into adopting DevOps are also directly improving business outcomes.
Gain an understanding of your existing DevOps capabilities by conducting a comprehensive assessment of your current software development practices. You can use the AWS DevOps Sagas indicators provided in this guidance to assess your existing DevOps capabilities against best practices. This activity should result in a prioritized list of DevOps capabilities that are missing or could use improvement within your organization. These findings should be shared with leadership and individual teams across the organization. Individual teams across the organization can progress towards adopting DevOps best practices as part of the regular planning processes.
Planning processes vary from organization to organization, so we will provide an example using Amazon's annual planning process. To kick start the yearly planning process, members of every team in the organization dedicate weeks of effort to focus on planning. The Senior Leadership team (S-Team) kicks off the process by defining business objectives. These high-level objectives are generally based on current business needs and future aspirations.
Teams build their operating plans based on the leadership-defined expectations and objectives. The first iteration of the operating plan (OP1) is a bottom-up proposal to gain alignment with other teams and approval from leadership. Operating plans should include progress towards the implementation of the DevOps capabilities from the prioritized list. Which capabilities to implement should be chosen based on alignment to S-Team goals in addition to their own individual goals. The team's operating plan should be shared with leadership and other relevant teams within the organization to promote shared knowledge and collaboration. Gaining approval from leadership helps align DevOps initiatives with the broader organizational goals. Additionally, this helps facilitate gaining the full support of leadership, including the requirements for funding, time, and resources.
Priorities, learnings, and customer needs often change over time. The second iteration of operating plan review (OP2) provides an opportunity to adapt the plan accordingly before finishing the plan. Consistently revisit the prioritized DevOps capability list at least once a year to continue progressing towards adopting DevOps best practices.
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