Databases and DevOps

This is my post for T-SQL Tuesday #91 hosted this month by Grant Fritchey, the subject this time around is Databases and DevOps. For those who aren't aware what T-SQL Tuesday is it's essentially a monthly blog party where the host (Grant this time) will decide on a topic and fellow bloggers will write a related post on the subject; you can read more about it here.

My post is going to be rather high level (what's new I hear you say!) and that's because this is where I often see DevOps fail, people don't quite grasp the fundamental concepts and requirements to make it work, but to begin with, sing a long with me for a second: 

Now this is a story all about how

My life for flipped-turned upside down

And I'l like to take a minute

Just sit right there

and I'll tell you about how implementing DevOps sometimes fails. 

Okay, it doesn't rhyme, I stole the lyrics and I certainly can't rap (not without whisky anyway) but for some people the concept of DevOps does bring with it the idea of having their (working) life being flipped upside down. People get confused about what it all means and this can cause resistance, an unwillingness to look at what DevOps is trying to achieve and essentially hold on to their current way of working.

The main cause of this tends to be how people go about implementing DevOps. I've seen organisations sort of grasp at the concept, try to introduce it too quickly or even try to impose it and then, quite understandably it fails miserably each time. 

People (or indeed companies) tend to focus on the lower levels of DevOps or even try to get the benefits straight away, the "continuous this" and the "continuous that" when in actual fact they're not even starting at the right place, a case of crawl before you can walk if you like.

The phrase DevOps is the bringing together of two different terms; Development and Operations so to make a success of it we need to think along those exact same lines. That means we need to focus on two things; communication and collaboration.

Communication is easy right? After all everyone kind of talks to one another so what's the problem? Well look at the traditional relationship between Developer and the DBA (operations). Both have been working very different styles for many years now; developers are making constant changes, pushing out releases as often as possible whereas the DBA is trying to put the brakes on and keep the systems in a stable state. 

This often results in push backs and whilst they will certainly communicate, it might not necessarily be the right kind of communication and now we've got to try to get them to meet in the middle somehow and work in a very coupled fashion! 

Fundamentally what is needed is an understanding of each others role. For me this is the real starting point of DevOps and although in some cases this will mean the breaking down of walls in no way is it an impossible task. Introducing each others way of thinking without trying to abolish the existing mindset but rather have a purpose of helping one another is how this common approach should be formed, and taken advantage of. 

Side Note: I have noticed that this sounds a lot like couples therapy!? Is this the real meaning of DevOps - are we been healed somehow!?

Ultimately this mutual understanding results in much more solid foundation that can be used to then implement the lower levels of DevOps such as the different technical methodologies and tool sets.  

Some of the most successful DevOps cultures that I have seen are where teams contain developers that are ex database admins and vice versa - yeah it's true, people actually do this! In these cases people haven't just brought their technical skills over to a new team, they've brought their understanding of the other functions too and will often use that in a co-operative manner to find the best solution - essentially, isn't this what DevOps is all about?

Now I am not saying that anyone should start shuffling around their IT department because that's the last thing you want to be doing. You can't force or impose this concept, it needs to grow and to some degree let people find their own ways of understanding and working with one another. Whilst challenging yes, the process doesn't need to be threatening or overwhelming in any way and done correctly it won't feel like that. 

So to go back to the lyrics right at the beginning of this post, no it won't flip your life upside down we just all need to take a minute, sit right there, and learn from one another.