Transforming software delivery with DevOps at a $1B+ enterprise
Summary
A $1B+ enterprise, confidentially referred to here as “ACME Corporation,” engaged us to help them become a high-performing software delivery organization through DevOps.
The challenge
As CIO of a 400+ person IT organization, ACME’s technology leader understood what modern DevOps practices — such as test automation and continuous integration — can unlock:
- Faster delivery
- Higher quality
- Better customer experiences
- Happier teams
- Improved business performance
Unfortunately, prior DevOps efforts produced only limited gains, didn’t fully prepare leaders for enterprise-scale adoption, and left many in the organization questioning DevOps’ value.
ACME needed an outside partner to help reset the approach, rebuild confidence, and accelerate the transformation.
The solution
Our approach focused on building ACME’s internal DevOps capacity as quickly as possible so they could run the transformation sustainably and self-sufficiently over the long term.
High-level phases of our engagement with ACME.
We started with a current-state assessment of ACME’s DevOps culture and practices using DORA (DevOps Research and Assessment) — an outcome-oriented, research-backed methodology that benchmarks software delivery performance against thousands of data points.
DORA assessment methodology.
With those insights, we partnered with the CIO’s team to prepare the organization for the changes required to scale DevOps. This included:
- Sharing assessment results — including industry benchmark comparisons and prioritized capability gaps (for example, version control and test automation)
- Establishing a DevOps center of excellence (CoE) model, similar to Disney’s DevOps CoE, to drive coaching, hands-on support, and community building
- Defining the talent model needed to run the DevOps CoE effectively based on ACME’s context and goals
- Creating a DevOps transformation roadmap that sequenced the highest-leverage actions to improve capability and outcomes
- Providing operating tools (including a health check model) to manage the transformation in an outcome-based, continuous-improvement way
After aligning leaders and setting the operating model, we worked alongside ACME to jumpstart execution. We supported recruiting, interviewing, and onboarding for the DevOps CoE (including the group’s leader). We delivered coaching and training to accelerate priority capability improvements. We ran periodic health checks to identify course corrections and keep momentum. Finally, we transitioned day-to-day ownership to the DevOps CoE so the program could continue without external dependency.
Through this partnership, we helped put ACME on a credible path toward becoming an industry model for delivering software with speed and stability.
The results
- Helped stand up ACME’s DevOps CoE within months, with an initial staff of 10+ people
- Guided ACME as the DevOps CoE evolved into a broader digital CoE that eventually grew to 60+ people
- Positioned ACME to become a recognized industry leader in DevOps and digital delivery