Now on DevOps Radio: Perficient’s Ronda Kiser-Oakes on Hitting a Homerun with DevOps

Episode 19 of DevOps Radio features Ronda Kiser-Oakes, director of the North America DevOps practice at Perficient, a digital transformation consulting firm serving leading companies. Besides being an avid sports fan, Ronda is passionate about the business of IT and how DevOps is changing the way businesses innovate. Unlike her beloved Cubs, Ronda says companies don’t have to wait 108 years to see DevOps success.

While sitting down with host Andre Pino, Ronda shares her industry observations, saying that while many companies that have started their DevOps journey, most do not know what route to take. She notes this is a “MapQuest” scenario where companies know they have to get from point A to point B, but there are too many different routes and they want to ensure they reach milestones along the way. Ronda’s approach is to assess the situation and bring vision to tactical strategy by identifying where to start, how to get to the next point and which endpoint to get to first. Many of the processes like continuous integration, continuous delivery, continuous deployment, shift left and agile that organizations look to employ, are really the endpoint to their DevOps initiatives.

Ronda also outlines the three elements every DevOps game plan should include: people, process and technology. With the DevOps journey now spanning so much of the organization - through DevSecOps, security, QA testing and operations - and different roles within the company investing in it, it’s important to keep the people aspect in mind. At Perficient, to get all parties aligned, they outline five ways to deliver services, which Ronda shares.

Like a true champion, Ronda fields Andre’s question about DevOps politics by saying that anytime you are changing the world in IT, there’s going to be politics but it is important to understand the culture and adjust to it, to stay neutral. She then compares DevOps and sports, highlighting the competitive edge in both. Ronda says while we all want to get to the Super Bowl and the World Series - or seamlessly deliver a successful product - there’s always competitiveness and naysayers, but by continuing to work hard, we can see how we can do better to stay true to the team. Her coaching advice for the ultimate DevOps dream team is to put the customer first and everybody wins.

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