"The moment a leader allows himself to become the primary reality people worry about, rather than reality being the primary reality, you have a recipe for mediocrity, or worse. This is one of the key reasons why less charismatic leaders often produce better long-term results than their more charismatic counterparts" Good to Great, Collins

In previous articles, we have talked about the Force which consists of great leaders, vision, product teams, tools and environment, let's now discuss the principles behind the practices.

The dimensions that optimise Knowledge Work differ to those that optimise Manual Work: Complex Work over Complicated Work. Value, Flow, Quality over Cost, Time and Scope. Culture over Processes. Using the same terminology as the Agile Manifesto, although we value the statements on the right, we value the statements on the left more...

All great artists have their tools - Thor has a hammer; Captain America, a shield; Lara Croft, a bow; David Hasselhoff, Kit; Iron Man, a multi-functional suit; Michelangelo, a chisel; Yehudi Menuhin, a violin; Picasso, a paint brush; Ronaldo, a football; etc. These tools generally amplify the character of the user. They become an extension of the individual and as a result, the wielder can do significantly more than without them, a good quality tool is worth it's weight in gold.

This is the next in the series of articles on DevOps. Today, the topic is about teams and productivity. Now, like most of you, I am conditioned to find out what needs doing before finding the people who need to do it. This sounds sensible and logical and for most 'Good' organisations, this is fine. However, Collins, found that Great Companies start with 'Who' first - the difference between Level 4 and Level 5 Leadership.

We all know of great leaders who have inspired significant change. Martin Luther King, Ghandi, Winston Churchill, Moses, Alex Ferguson, William Wallace, Jeff Bezos, Eric Schmidt, Elon Musk, Richard Branson are a few examples amongst many others that have impacted the history of the world. Some have changed the way we live, transformed lives, entertained us and some have delivered freedom to countless many.

Following on from Origins, One Ring is the next in the series of articles to describe DevOps philosophies using well known stories and focussing on the importance of shared goals and organisational alignment.

Origins: An article describing the change journey from management techniques used to manage manual workers to those needed to manage knowledge workers.

After 2 years of implementing the philosophies and practices of Agile and DevOps, I felt it was time to share my learning and experiences with…