Why corporations are lagging
When agile rose, everyone needed to do agile. When cloud became popular, every company tried/tries to go to cloud. With devops trends being the big thing, all need to automate. It seems all companies have a single common goal in mind: we need to follow the trends.
And how is this working out so far?
It’s easy of course to look at these companies and say they are big, need time to adapt, there is legacy that requires more effort. And this is of course a great incentive to spare no expense in this continuous adaptation. After all, if you don’t adapt you will be left behind. And in a way that’s true. But are they adapting? Do things change?
- Looking at the agile manifesto, the first rule is “Individuals and interactions over processes and tools”. Did your company try to improve interaction, or did they try to change the process?
- The essence of using cloud is to empower people to use and scale technology without having to invest in its inner working. Did your company provide individuals or teams with this power, or did they centralize it?
- Devops derives its power from the increasing responsibility for teams, not just for a piece of software but for end to end service delivery. Did your company give your team control over its own budget, with corresponding accountability?
Many of the big companies have seen their rise in use of technology in the ‘80s and ‘90s. This was the time after experimentation, where the trend was to formalize, make rules and regulations, processes and centralize to enforce.
With the cloud age departments had options, either to stick with enforced limitations or take outside services. It’s a time where centralized IT loses control, because they chose to restrict rather than communicate, enforcing use of external service out of their scope of vision.
And now we’re here, in the age of communication. The essence being that communication is a two-way street. IT departments can’t do their job if they don’t fulfil the requirements of their customers. Teams can’t integrate their services if they don’t listen to each other.
Changing a process template is easy. Changing culture is hard. However, the first step in learning is always to admit there is something you don’t know. These companies are big, they need time to adapt. Will they keep doing what they have always been doing, with new tools, or will they admit there is something they don’t know? Will they be willing to learn, and adapt?
About Edwin van der Thiel
Freedom has been a guiding factor throughout Edwin's career, it drives his ambition and gives meaning, in different ways. In the form of Personal Freedom it's the ability for every person to be themselves. He embrace it in himself, in his development plan, building his career. To others he strives to be as open, fair and welcoming as possible, and defend each one's right to be themselves. In software freedom, through Open Source and Open Standards, He's a big advocate of the ideology. Not only in the open source community, but bringing the culture of openness and sharing wherever he works. Openness is the basis of trust, and it can be a guide to the future. Through freedom of teams, He's a big fan of Agile working. His vision on Agile is centered around the triangle of Trust, Responsibility and Commitment. It brings guidance on collaboration and enablement rather than focussing on processes, managers and templates. Freedom of data, or rather the ability to own your own data. Currently this centers heavily on Decentralization, Web3, Blockchain and the Metaverse. To him the important issue is on building an internet where everyone can be owner of their data, they control it, no governing platform, institution or country can take it. Much like the ideas in your head, you hold what's yours. He loves the south-american culture, in particular Brasil. In his spare time he is a husband to Jacy, father to Amy, a dancer and Capoeira instructor, and loves to explore the world.
More on Edwin van der Thiel.
