Screwing up for fun and profitDevOpsDays 2015Oliver Hankeln @mydalon

What is a mistake?

A mistake is a decision or judgement that led to a negative outcome, which could have been prevented with the knowledge and resources available at the time.

Mistakes are a learning opportunity

But a mistake is just like a lump of ore

Post mortem

• Bring together people from all affected departments

• Collect a timeline of events

• Find the root cause

• Define actions

Requirements for effective learning

• Transparency

• Finding the root cause

• Trust

• Respect

Anti-patterns

• Hiding mistakes

• Blame game

• The Arc of Escalation

• Cowardice

Anti-Pattern:Hiding mistakes

• CEO Disease

• Wasted learning opportunity

• Sets the wrong example

• Financial bonus often leads to hiding mistakes

Pattern: Proactive communication

• Be open about the failure

• Now have a post-mortem

• Talk about what was learned

Anti-Pattern:Blaming

• People get defensive

• Aggression and fear disable learning

• Root cause gets hidden

Pattern: Accepting

• A post mortem is NOT a performance review

• Focus on events, not on (groups of) people

• Prime directive

The Prime Directive

Regardless of what we discover, we understand and truly believe that everyone did the best job they could, given what they knew at the time, their skills and abilities, the resources available, and the situation at hand.

--Norm Kerth, Project Retrospectives: A Handbook for Team Reviews

Anti-Pattern:Arc of Escalation

• You play Chinese Whispers

• You force a blame game

• You destroy trust

Interlude: An Experiment

2 — 4 — 8 What’s my rule?

a1 < a2 < a3

Pattern: Talk to your peers

• Be aware of confirmation bias

• They are nice guys, really!

• Try to switch perspectives

Anti-Pattern:Cowardice

• Time wasted on formalities

• No one wants to be responsible

• Cause: punishing or firing people who screw up

Pattern: Embrace Failure

• You are a ninja!

• You are a scientist!

• You are an adventurer!

Predicting Failure aka Pre mortem

• Gather groups of people from different departments

• Start with a catastrophic outcome

• Have fun

• Rinse. Repeat.

Contact me!

Oliver Hankeln Freelance DevOps & Agile Evangelist

@mydalon

oliver@hankeln-consulting.de

Image sources• Copper ore: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File%3ANatural_Copper_Ore_Macro_1.JPG; Jonathan Zander; CC-BY-

SA-3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

• Post mortem: http://catalogue.wellcomelibrary.org/record=b1102466; Photo number: L0075723; Wellcome Trust; CC-BY-4.0

• Boys at the lake: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File%3ABundesarchiv_Bild_102-00651%2C_Berlin%2C_Strandbad_Wannsee.jpg ; Bundesarchiv, Bild 102-00651 / CC-BY-SA; via Wikimedia Commons

• Hand: https://openclipart.org/detail/192388/nice-manicule, public domain

• Prairie dogs: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a9/Kissing_Prairie_dog_edit_3.jpg; IBrocken Inaglory,;CC-BY-SA-3.0; via Wikimedia Commons

• Nuclear test: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File%3A%22Ivy_Mike%22_atmospheric_nuclear_test_-_November_1952_-_Flickr_-_The_Official_CTBTO_Photostream.jpg; By The Official CTBTO Photostream; CC-BY-2.0; via Wikimedia Commons

• Talking men: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File%3AFotothek_df_ps_0000147_Zwei_alte_Herren_im_Gespr%C3%A4ch.jpg; Deutsche Fotothek; CC-BY-SA 3.0-de; via Wikimedia Commons

• Paperwork:http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Lightmatter_paperwork.jpg; AaronLogan; CC-BY 2.5 Generic; vie Wikimedia Commons

• Buzz Aldrin on the moon: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Aldrin_Apollo_11_(jha).jpg; NASA, public domain; vie Wikimedia Commons

• Crystal ball: http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Datei:John_Dee_s_Seal_Kristallkugel.jpg ; User „Steevie", CC-BY-SA 3.0/de