How to get buy-in from the Penthouse for the DevOps Platform intention, approach & initiatives? Such a task becomes daunting in Enterprises. DevOps Platform is fairly new in enterprises compared to other traditional Operations (Network, Storage, VM, DB, Backup etc.).

My observation is only around Type-5 & 6 topolgy (Temp & Advocacy) establishment.

Typically Penthouse and upper layers have lesser representation for DevOps movement. And largely they are not exposed to the ‘Why’s and ‘What’s of Devops. But they want a piece of it due to its novelty and spotlight, more like a checkbox ticked.

DevOps becomes a pipe dream in Enterprises because of

• lesser technical competence/representation
• projection of lack of experimentation buy-in or zero-tolerance to uncertainty
• lack of trust on incremental progress
• non-pragmatic expectations on the platform team, due to point#1
• spotlight-hungry siloed operations/enablement teams (due to hero culture and rewarding mechanisms)

Even the elevator supposed to bridge Penthouse with the Engine room also exhibit such traits.

Take care of these flaws and this will lead to securing the Penthouse buy-in and ongoing support.

You might have come across Not Invented Here (NIH) syndrome. I have come across a variant of it which I would term as Not Invented, especially, Here (NIeH). When technologies that are bought to the Enterprise where a clear boundary of the fulfilled Capability cannot be drawn back to one Owner, its adoption goes for a toss, even with the Technology or Capability has been tested in the wild and could bring transformation to the Enterprise.

The enthusiastic team or the newbie team , that is not exposed to the company’s politics, might bring in the Capability/Technology. The well-founded team which has a remote related Capabilities to the newly brought one , does things in its power to stop the capability adoption, inspite of being aware of the capability/technology’s potential to transform the enterprise. And sometimes it lends a deaf ear to newbie team’s collaboration demands saying NiEH

This is my first post here. In my last assignment for an enterprise , with a small team, we tried to establish DevOps Platform & Capabilities. Management or Leadership Buy-In & Support through Policies , Enforcement is essential for an Enterprise Digital Platform’s success.

You may:

• Expand the Platforms with Shiny, yet Essential Capabilities
• Start small, focusing on Set of Verticals/Departments/Business Units
• Onboard # of Teams on your Platforms
• Establish the Platforms on Highly Sophisticated Hyperscaler/Architecture

and so on…

But without the Leadership Buy-In and them understanding the value of the Capabilities, you getting to expand your wings, sustaining the established Platforms, the core team behind it & securing the adopted internal customers will not be feasible.