Sacred Riots

Sacred Riots

Venkatesh Rao

10/17/2013 Venkatesh G. Rao 2

A lightly edited version of a talk I did for the DevOps group at Riot Games.


[email protected]

Twitter: @vgr

Blog: http://ribbonfarm.com

Physical coordinates: Seattle

Summoner Name: napdar

Status: intimidated n00b

I am... • An aerospace engineer (PhD, control theory, U. Michigan, 2003) • 10 years in academic research/startup/big company • Since 2011 – independent researcher, consultant, writer • Not a gamer! Last relevant experience, playing Myth in 1998

mailto:[email protected]

http://ribbonfarm.com/

Chasm

Early

Market

Bowling Alley

Tornado

Main Street

HERE…

Technology adoption lifecycle, Geoffrey Moore, Dealing with Darwin

And you are…


Source: Venturebeat, July 2013

Congrats on the MOBA land grab...


Organizational challenges

But can you defend your nexus?


by dealing with inevitable change

While keeping the sacred constant


Organizational challenges

• Growing faster than culture can adapt • Paving cowpaths faster than they are forming • From one win to winning as a habit • Cash to burn = bad habits form faster than good

inevitable change


Technology challenges

• NEW technical debt loci • Docker, CoreOS • Oculus VR • AR gaming on horizon • LEAP controller…

inevitable change


Market challenges

• Console and PC gaming both threatened by mobile • Narrow demographics/psychographics risk (males 18-35) • Blizzard, Valve etc. are not going to sit still • Potential changing tastes • Evolution in gaming aesthetics

inevitable change


sacred constants?


So…DevOps, eh?

(among other things)


DevOps Idea Maze*

Continuous Integration

High Frequency Deployments

Minimize Recovery Time Vs.

Maximize MTBF

Deployment Automation

Automated Acceptance

Testing

Automated Rollbacks

Cross-trained skillsets

Rapid onboarding of new team members

Distributed Expertise

Jenkins

Containerization (Docker…)

Monitoring Workflows

Extreme Virtualization

Lean Workflows

No obstructionism

Extreme team cohesiveness

Highly open communications

Agile foundations

No cancerous stealth Codified expectations

Trust-based autonomy

http://cdixon.org/2013/08/04/the-idea-maze/

No-asshole rule

DRY

Chef

Nagios

shu-ha-ri







True North?

a sense of the sacred within an idea maze


You’re going to deploy some configuration of people and processes to navigate this idea maze.

What happens if they lack a sense of True North?


When there is no instinctive sense of the sacred that a process protects, the process itself becomes sacralized.

This is a CARGO CULT


This is a CULT OF PERSONALITY

When there is no process, powerful INDIVIDUALS with secrets* are sacralized

*Necessary in early startup phase, see Thiel/Dixon definition of “secret”, toxic if it persists with growth


People over Process

Process over People

True North is when this argument ends quickly and usefully each time

(if these arguments never happen, you have a bigger problem)


Wu Wei The highest virtue is to act without a sense of self The highest kindness is to give without a condition The highest justice is to see without a preference When Tao is lost one must learn the rules of virtue When virtue is lost, the rules of kindness When kindness is lost, the rules of justice When justice is lost, the rules of conduct

-- Tao Te Ching, Verse 38, trans. Jonathan Star


For smart people trapped in a cargo cult OR a cult of personality, software engineering turns into a …

…“nexus of SUCK”*


Nexus of Suck


Bigger Nexus of Suck


Biggest Nexus of Suck


Are there REALLY 10 different conflicts here?

Let’s dig deeper.

Hidebound Bureaucratic Holier-than-thou Naïve Boring Risk-averse Predictable

Inconsistent Unreliable Duplicitous Selfish Irresponsible Scheming Bullshitter

25

Two negative archetypes

Which do you dislike more?

“The fox knows many things, the hedgehog knows one big thing.”

-- Archilocus

26

The philosophy primer: http://bit.ly/Ysr7ja

Foxes

See Foxes as

Hedgehogs

See Hedgehogs as

Open-minded Resourceful Adaptable Worldly Interesting Adventurous Imaginative

Hidebound Bureaucratic Holier-than-thou Naïve Boring Risk-averse Predictable

Inconsistent Unreliable Duplicitous Selfish Irresponsible Scheming Bullshitter

Consistent Conscientious Fair Selfless Responsible Trustworthy Realistic

27


WARNING!

NOT a 1:1 mapping between fox/hedgehog and dev/ops

See Steve Yegge on conservative versus liberal programmers… https://plus.google.com/110981030061712822816/posts/KaSKeg4vQtz

https://plus.google.com/110981030061712822816/posts/KaSKeg4vQtz



Attributions: Fox: Rob Lee Hedgehog: Lars Karlsson

Profane riots Sacred stability

complementary modes of arrested development

29

chaos for the hell of it

curling up and resisting change


Sacred Riots


“GTD doesn’t stop you falling off the wagon; it makes it easier to get back on.” – David Allen


Candidate for the TAO of DevOps?

If you stay stuck for long you’re doing it wrong

Where foxes get terminally stuck,

hedgehogs get started

Where hedgehogs get terminally stuck, foxes get started

Foxes are most comfortable finding direction

Hedgehogs are most comfortable developing momentum


Can foxes and hedgehogs operate with a shared sense of the sacred?

Fox Hedgehog

Profane

Sacred

Adventure Love

Boredom Betrayal

35


Adventure + Love + Boredom + Betrayal =

NARRATIVE

DevOps is ultimately a series of stories big and small about repeatedly rediscovering the sacred amidst seemingly profane change


Bilbo’s birthday

Elves head West Two Towers

Fellowship formed

Ring Destroyed

Encounter with Ringwraiths

Reasons why Frodo can’t stay in the Shire

Incr

easi

ng D

isso

nanc

e

Example: Lord of the Rings

Gandalf v. Balrog

Frodo v. Spider


Liminal Passage

Liminal Passage Valley

Cheap Trick Separation Event

Evolved doctrine “Moral of the story”

Incr

easi

ng E

ntro

py

Double Freytag Narrative Structure


Project Kick-Off

Bugs level off Calm build-out

Design Aha!

LAUNCH!

“I have this awesome idea for a new product!!!”

Incr

easi

ng D

isso

nanc

e

Feature freeze

Technical debt that cannot be paid off

Typical Software Project

Lead with Dev Lead with Ops


Project Kick-Off

Bugs level off Calm build-out

Design Aha!

LAUNCH!

Incr

easi

ng D

isso

nanc

e

Feature freeze

Technical SURPLUS!

Atypical Software Project

Lead with Dev Lead with Ops

Expand Feature Set, increase

entropy

Version n Version n+1

Refactor, lower

entropy, pay off

technical debt

Release!

Simplified View

99%

1%

Sturgeon’s Law

Time

Entr

opy

Real projects will likely follow some sort of bathtub curve in the best case

Sacred phase Milking phase

Put product out of its misery

(and maybe the business itself as well)

Chasm

Early

Market

Bowling Alley

Tornado

Main Street

Technology adoption lifecycle, Geoffrey Moore, Dealing with Darwin

(yeah, basically this, upside down…)


The Hero’s Journey REQUIRES Both Fox and Hedgehog tendencies Fox = fall off the wagon/go on adventure Hedgehog = return with deepened sense of the sacred


Definition: QUALITY

repeatedly rediscovering the sacred amidst seemingly profane change


inevitable change

sacred constants


thank you

Consultant: someone who steals your watch and offers to tell you the time

Acknowledgements A lot of people who prefer not to be named.

Sacred Riots

Technology

Transcript of Sacred Riots