I’ve been an avid rock climber since before it became cool (disclaimer: the dude in the picture isn’t me. I’m not that cool.)
One thing I deeply enjoy about the climbing community is how welcoming they are of beginners.
Anyone who’s struggling to make it up a route, regardless of its (perceived) difficulty, will be offered encouragement and helpful advice.
Interestingly, newbies struggling to master a particular climb tend to think that they lack the strength to make it to the top. “I’m not strong enough!” is the number one complaint.
Yet a beginner’s route (and even many hairy ones) takes roughly as much strength as scaling a ladder – and essentially everyone is strong enough for that, right?
Instead, experienced climbers will usually offer the following, hard-won advice: “pay attention to your feet!” – because if the newbies did that, all of their difficulties would usually just fall away.
Mastering a route tends to hinge on balance – and that, in turn, hinges on details: how your place your ankle, whether you shift your hip this way or that.
Adopting DevOps has a surprisingly similar dynamic: how well you do depends on all the little things (that often aren’t to be found in books).
It’s not about whether you use Jira or not, it’s about the nuances of how you do.
It’s not about whether you assemble cross-functional teams, it’s about how they gel into more than people who happen to be seated in the same room.
It’s not about whether you use Kubernetes or not, but about whether it allows you to get more done for your customer, and better, and faster.
So at all points in your DevOps trajectory, consider your “posture”: whether you have the important things in mind. Whether you’re moving in the right direction. Whether it feels right.
Pay attention to your balance. The necessary movements will become appreciable if you do.
(Photo by Martin from Pexels)