Chapter 16. Agile Infrastructure
Agile adj. quick and well coordinated
IF YOU ARE BUILDING AND MANAGING WEB INFRASTRUCTURE, chances are good that you have heard of Agile software methods. Perhaps you have been supporting the application produced by an Agile team. Maybe these software developers and managers use words such as stories and iterations and then talk passionately about "people over process" and "responding to change over following a plan." Agile popularized these ideas within development organizations, but all too often that is where Agile starts and ends. No amount of unit tests, continuous integration, stand-ups, story cards, or jargon can fix the problem of code tossed from developers to operations with ceremony but without communication. Agile might seem like a living hell if you are the one with the pager. Hopefully, we're going to change that together.
Agile means change, and lots of it. Our experience tells us change causes outages. Changes also enable the organization. That poses a dilemma that creates tension between ops and dev in many organizations. One problem is that both teams optimize for their worldview. The tension is an opportunity to optimize for the whole organization, but that requires recognizing and validating each other's concerns. No technology can do that for us.
Agile ostensibly focuses on improving communication and the flow of ideas, but when that focus is lost, Agile can become a ritualized excuse for failing to communicate, ...
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