[OA.LS.1] Appoint a decision-making leader to own DevOps adoption

Category: FOUNDATIONAL

DevOps adoption requires a dedicated leader to help facilitate continued progress, make resource decisions, and gain alignment with leaders throughout the organization. This leadership role, inspired by Amazon's single-threaded leadership concept, becomes the person within the company fully dedicated and accountable for DevOps adoption. They have no competing priorities, focusing solely on DevOps adoption and driving the initiative forward.

A single-threaded leader becomes the focal point for centralizing decision-making. They have the freedom within the organization to assess areas of improvement, and the ability to organize teams to solve problems. Appoint a leader with decision-making authority. Because DevOps adoption has a broad impact that requires change to occur throughout the entire organization, the leader must have support from executives, such as the CEO, CTO, CIO, or CISO. The ideal single-threaded leader for DevOps adoption is usually a role reporting directly to senior executives. This connection helps them drive organizational decisions, structure teams, and allocate responsibilities with the proper level of authority and direct escalation channels.

The leader should work closely with enthusiastic early adopters to build momentum and support for the initiative. Open communication channels must remain open throughout the organization to foster collaboration and receive support. As progress is made, the leader regularly updates other teams and leaders of DevOps adoption initiatives and the impact DevOps is having on the business.

Related information: