DevOps aims to solve the problems that arise from deploying and operating software applications. It is difficult because infrastructure issues can occur at any time and require expertise from different domains. Existing collaboration platforms do not fully address the needs of DevOps teams. The document proposes building a platform that leverages principles of continuous partial attention and asynchronous collaboration, as seen on social networks, to allow DevOps teams to more effectively solve problems together across locations and times. Research on remote collaboration and interruptions supports this approach of allowing teams to collectively but flexibly engage with issues as they arise.

1. Leveraging the Twitter Economy for a DevOps World
The Challenges behind building the first collaboration platform for DevOps
Todd Vernon / Founder – CEO

2. What is DevOps?
DESIGN
BUILD
AGILE DEVELOPMENT
TEST
DEPLOY
OPERATE
DEVOPS
• DevOps is the logical outcome of the Agile
software development movement.
• Agile was the solution to software Design/Build
problems that resulted from treating software
development like building a bridge.
• DevOps is the solution to the Deploy/Operate
problem that Agile created.

3. What makes DevOps difficult?
• 24x7 job. The machine never
stops running (it better not).
• Problems that need
remediation are just as likely
to occur at 2am as 2pm.
• Staffing 24x7 is impractical
until major scale is achieved.
• Domain expertise is wide,
aggravating the problem.

4. So, how do companies deal?
• Someone is always on the pager
(always).
• Individuals do 1 week rotations.
• If you‟re “that person”, you are out of
bed on average 3 nights a week.
• When a problem comes to you (at
2am), you are all alone and probably
the wrong person to fix the problem.
• You get others involved slowly due to
social pressures.
None of this behavior is in line with solving the
problem faster, keeping your business running, or
simply making that job suck less.

5. Solution! Get everyone in the same room!
• Everyone lives at work.
• Your infrastructure alerts
you.
• Everyone can immediately
collaborate to solve the
problem.
• The one person that
recognizes the problem
speaks up.
• Problem is resolved!
• Everyone climbs back under
desk and goes back to bed.

6. Does everyone need to be in the room?
•
Studies suggest no.
•
A study done by New York University and Cornell University showed that
physical and/or emotional distance lead to more creative problem solving.
•
Solving a problem for a distant other resulted in more creative solutions
than for self, or close others.
•
Intrinsic decisions are safer, extrinsic decisions are more creative.
Decisions for Others Are More Creative Than Decisions for the Self
Published in the Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin Feb 2011
Evan Polman, Kyle Emich

7. Is interactive remote participation good?
• In a study of Face-to-Face versus Threaded
Discussions at the University of North Dakota behavior
patterns were researched.
• Higher order thinking was achieved with the use of
threaded discussions rather than face-to-face learning in
classrooms.
• Participants cited the increased time to think about the
problem, rather than social pressure to immediately
respond to be a major contributor to the quality.
• More time was spent on exploratory or integrative
thought than in face to face discussions.
Face-to-face Versus Threaded Discussions: The Role of Time and Higher-Order thinking.
Dr. Katrina A Meyer, University of North Dakota

8. Collaborative Problem Solving is not new…
• Vertical Collaboration
(Domain Specific)
– Salesforce.com
– Rally
– Jira
• Horizontal Collaboration
(Non-Domain Specific)
–
–
–
–
–
–
GotoMeeting
WebEx
Join.me
Campfire
HipChat
IRC

9. How to build a collaborative platform for DevOps
• No existing Vertical Collaboration Platform for
DevOps.
• The platform would have to:
– Be mobile first.
– Allow for synchronous engagement but enable
asynchronous problem solving.
– Give all participants symmetric access to information
from enterprise monitoring platform.
– Allow for scalable „lean-in‟ to the problem but freedom
to lean out to reflect.

10. Twitter and FB as an interaction model
• In seconds you are up-to-date on what a friend
or person of interest is doing.
• In a sense, you are always on, time slicing or
task switching your attention.
• Friends are loosely tied to the information but
still have the opportunity to reflect.
• Communications is asynchronous, but can
escalate to synchronous as required.

11. Continuous Partial Attention (CPA)
• Yes, it‟s a real thing.
• Not really multi-tasking, full attention isn‟t required.
• Negative Definition:
– The increasing inability or desire to pay full attention to just one
task, item or person and instead continually scan for other
opportunities… while waiting for the next interruption.
• Positive Definition:
– Motivated by a desire to be a LIVE node on the network. Another
way of saying this is that we want to connect and be connected.
We want to effectively scan for opportunity and optimize for the
best opportunities, activities, and contacts, in any given moment.
• Irrelevant! If you live in DevOps you are already this
person.
Linda Stone
The Attention Project www.lindastone.net

12. Productivity and Interruption
Difficult
Unfamiliar Task
Disruptive
Easy or
Rehearsed Task
Minor Disruption
Primary Task
Interruption Task
Dealing with Interruptions can be Complex, but does Interruption Complexity Matter?
D Cades - George Mason University, N Werner – George Mason University, D Davis – George Mason University, C Monk – George Mason University.
Does the Difficulty of an Interruption Affect our Ability to Resume?
D Cades - George Mason University, J Trafton Naval - Research Laboratory, D Davis – George Mason University, C Monk – George Mason University.

13. The Benefits of Collaboration via CPA
•
•
•
•
•
Reduce new participant spool-up time.
Allow for scalable „lean-in‟ on solving problems.
Make critical events, less of an event.
Notice data patterns in the data (ie Data Porn)
Solve problems faster by getting some of
everyone's attention.
• If you‟re the person with the Pager, GET BACK
TO BED SOONER.

14. What we did at VictorOps
• Provide a Mobile first, always available
enterprise alert timeline.
• Made the application real-time.
• In 2 seconds I know the condition of my
IT infrastructure.
• In 4 seconds I can contribute by posting
a thought.
• Team members lean-in, not get sucked
in.
• Not just states, but events and
transitions.
• Added a smart alerting platform to
vectors problems to the correct skill set.

15. We all work differently than we used to
• Mobile has been a major shift in our behavior
pattern.
• Consumer behavior has changed first (as is
typical).
• Business is just catching up (as is typical).
• Business is tied more closely with traditional
workflow and is slower to migrate.
• Mobile first, only works if you change up the
paradigm. Embrace the usage patterns.

16. Thanks!
Research References:
Decisions for Others Are More Creative Than Decisions for the Self
Published in the Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin Feb 2011
Evan Polman, Kyle Emich
Face-to-face versus threaded discussions: The Role of Time and Higher-Order thinking
Dr. Katrina A Meyer, University of North Dakota
Linda Stone
The Attention Project www.lindastone.net
Dealing with Interruptions can be Complex, but does Interruption Complexity Matter?
D Cades - George Mason University, N Werner – George Mason University, D Davis – George Mason University, C Monk – George Mason
University.
Does the Difficulty of an Interruption Affect our Ability to Resume?
D Cades - George Mason University, J Trafton Naval - Research Laboratory, D Davis – George Mason University, C Monk – George Mason
University.