Enterprise DevOps - Going Big and f*$^#&g up, a Cautionary Tale

Abstract:

Trading firms are not about high fives, flashy suits and Maseratis. Behind the scenes the technology that powers these firms walks a delicate line, balancing regulatory risk and the need for rapid technology response when market conditions change. DevOps is a natural fit for these organizations, getting it right however is an entirely different story.

This talk will describe an initiative I led to implement a DevOps capability for a large online broker, focusing on the challenges we faced and the (painful) lessons we learnt.

I’ll discuss the conditions that made it possible, talk through the cultural challenges, outline the technology issues, and focus on what worked and what didn’t.

Detail:

1. The Business: Why DevOps was the answer.
2. The Project: Funding a DevOps initiative using "risk”.
3. Team Culture: How we assembled an amazing team from different silo’s in IT and unknowingly created a nightmare.
4. Company Culture: Communication challenges between silo'd teams.
5. The Processes: Working with and around existing processes.
6. The Technology: Working with technical debt in “legacy" mission critical environments.
7. Progress: Early warning signs we missed and how we dealt with timeframes.
8. Lessons: The good, the bad and the ugly.

Speaker:

Mike Baukes is the Co-Founder & CEO of ScriptRock Inc. Prior to startup life he held a range of senior technology roles in Strategy, Architecture, Engineering and Ops for a wide variety of international banking and finance organizations including Lloyds Banking Group, Commonwealth Bank of Australia & E*Trade. Despite this admission he maintains that he is far more at home on the command line than in a board room.