As a project manager, a great deal of my time is spent on driving efficiency within the Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) Chief Design Office. I’ve been lucky enough to spend most of my career in an age when DevOps is highlighted as a superior method for software development. It’s also exciting to see the DevOps philosophy gain momentum and expand into other organizations. Many teams now recognize the benefits of agile methodologies, and continuously work to streamline processes, accelerate feedback loops, and quicken the pace of innovation.

Since I live the DevOps methodology every day, I have to remind myself that not everyone comes at their work with this mindset. I recently came across a blog that really hit home for me. This was an article written by Angel Rivera and entitled DevOps didn’t exist when I started as a developer: How this one principle changed my career. Angel has a unique take on the subject, which follows along a timeline from the mid-1990’s till now and relates how much things have changed. The author helps the reader understand that others, depending on how long they may have worked in this industry, may still be steeped in historical approaches to dealing with application development, and how important open conversations can be to overcoming this bias.

As Angel points out, DevOps is more than just a set of software development practices that combine software development and IT operations in a way that shortens the development and release cycle. It’s a way of doing business based on a firm foundation of trust and cooperation. It is not easily achieved and is highly based on culture. One must nurture a DevOps culture for it to take hold and thrive.

I like to think the work we are doing here in the Chief Design Office with HPE DEV helps continue to break down silos as we work across different organizations, both internally and outside of Hewlett Packard Enterprise, to help everyone become a little more agile. I would love to hear your thoughts. Connect with us on Slack and share your stories on what DevOps means to you.