Collaboration Experiment - DevOps

In a previous post, I described the honour I felt when working with our new Tech Associates (Graduates). One of my contacts asked for the use case and expected outcomes. I have posted the basis below.

It is important to understand the design of the experiment is intended to highlight the need for teams to collaborate in the design and construction phases of development. While I use this to highlight DevOps specifically, it is equally use for for any team collaboration that is needed - UX, ML, Platform, scaled or distributed agile, etc. Since DevOps is really a cultural approach, I try not to be exclusive in my presentation of this experiment.

The lessons learned that results from this experiment fall into 2 categories that are intra-or inter-team. Within the teams, because they are constructed at random, there can be gaps in skills, thinking, personality that influence the success or failure of the team to build a working model. I find that most engineers love Lego, which also helps break down some of the new team inertia so they can move quickly into design and execution. It is important to observe these characteristics and highlight them to the group as an area of focus when building their own squads.

When looking across teams, the primary value of this experiment becomes evident. There are always discussions around the interface between the puller and the trailer. Teams either focus on one design exclusively (usually won't connect properly) or (in the case above) spend a significant amount of time searching their Lego bin for anything that can serve as an interface and finding ways to incorporate them into their design (over delivery, velocity impairment, poor test-scenario definition). The interface and capacity questions lead to further questions and often mismatches (Lego are great for trucks, ships, helicopters - you get the idea).

In the end, it is extremely rare for both teams to re-enter the presentation with exact matches in interface, network, and capacity (usually Slack is the culprit). This creates a great opportunity to discuss the importance of collaboration and highlights the need for wholistic thinking and communication across systems.

Teams in Pairs (team 1 and team 2):

•      Teams cannot communicate to anyone outside of their own team

•      No Slack, Hangouts, Skype, Yammer, AIM, SMS, SignalR, Net Send, etc…

•      Spend 15 minutes with your Lego

•      Only 1 model to be submitted per team

•      Pick a Presenter, be as detailed/descriptive as possible:

•      What does its network look like?

•      How does it interface

•      How is it used?

•      How does it benefit your customers?

•      Etc.

Team 1 

As a delivery company, we need a vehicle capable of pulling a loaded trailer.

• Please construct and describe the interface.
• Please also describe the capacity of the vehicle and the network used for transport.

Your team is not building the trailer and will have no contact with that team.

Be creative

Act as a team (each team member must contribute in some way to the design)

Have fun.

Team 2

As a delivery company, we need a cargo trailer of being pulled by a vehicle.

• Please construct and describe the interface.
• Please also describe the capacity of the trailer and the network used for transport.

Your team is not building the vehicle and will have no contact with that team.

Be creative

Act as a team (each team member must contribute in some way to the design)

Have fun.