A Critique of the DevOps Approach: How We Fool Ourselves

🧩DevOps teams often end up as infrastructure managers instead of focusing on platform engineering.

🚀Internal developer platforms should be flexible, opinionated, and self-service to empower engineers.

🔄Trust and collaboration between developers and operations teams deteriorate when they are forced to work in silos.

🔐Operations should focus on the final stages of the development cycle, providing monitoring and operational support.

🔁Continuous integration and continuous deployment (CI/CD) can be a source of frustration and division between teams.

Why do DevOps teams often end up as infrastructure managers?

—DevOps teams can get trapped in infrastructure management when organizations fail to prioritize platform engineering and focus on making their infrastructure more flexible and self-service.

How can internal developer platforms empower engineers?

—Internal developer platforms can empower engineers by being flexible, opinionated, and self-service, allowing them to run their applications the way they want without worrying about the implementation details.

Why does trust between developers and operations deteriorate over time?

—Trust between developers and operations deteriorates when developers feel limited by operations teams and their backlog, leading to frustration and a breakdown in collaboration.

What should operations focus on in the development cycle?

—Operations should focus on the final stages of the development cycle, including monitoring and providing operational support to ensure the stability and performance of the application.

How can CI/CD become a source of frustration and division?

—CI/CD can become a source of frustration and division when there is a lack of clarity and coordination between development and operations teams, leading to issues with deployments and production environment management.

00:00In this video, the speaker offers a critique of the traditional DevOps approach and highlights the challenges that devops teams face when they get trapped in infrastructure management instead of focusing on platform engineering.

06:40The speaker emphasizes the importance of internal developer platforms that are flexible, opinionated, and self-service to empower engineers and enable them to run their applications the way they want without being limited by infrastructure management tasks.

14:20Trust and collaboration between developers and operations teams often deteriorate over time when developers feel constrained by operations teams and their backlog. This can lead to frustration and division within the organization.

19:50The speaker suggests that operations teams should focus on the final stages of the development cycle, including monitoring and providing operational support, to ensure the stability and performance of the application.

26:10CI/CD can become a source of frustration and division when there is a lack of coordination and clarity between development and operations teams. The speaker highlights the importance of addressing these issues for a successful DevOps implementation.