HASSELL – Why we need it in DevOps for SAP

Forget Bernoulli's Theorem it’s not physics that makes planes fly….

It’s money. Everything about aviation is expensive, and when you’re burning upwards of 28 liters of AvGas per hour at aerobatic power time really counts.

You really don’t want to be faffing about thinking about your next steps, objectives need to be planned with well-rehearsed procedures in place for common actions.

HASELL is your best friend!

We all hate hassle but if flying upside down excites you, then HASELL is your best friend!

HASELL is a checklist reminder for doing aerobatics i.e. before you take your life in your hands make sure you're prepared:

Height... what goes up must come down….have you got enough to recover if something goes wrong?

Airframe... is the airframe ready for high speed?

Security... strapped in nice and tight and no loose articles... oh and make sure your passenger is strapped in!

Engine... Temp's and Pressures good and set for aerobatic power

Location... aero's overpower stations are generally frowned upon

Lookout... mid-air collisions are rare, but boy that would ruin your day

Aerobatic pilots learn this off rote. In fact, pilots are obsessed with check-lists, BUMPFITCH and PUFAL to name just two.

DevOps is reducing recovery times

Check-lists are a form of automation, they're designed to help the pilot, to give the pilot more brain space.

They also help standardize operations and reduce training time. They help pilots who have never flown together fly as part of a team.

Most pilots have at some point worried about inadvertently spinning....

Throttle back

Release the stick

Push the peddle that offers resistance

.... and recover!

Ok, there's a bit more to it than this, but....

We're talking about creating repeatable and reliable modes of working.

This practice is also becoming common in the medical operating theatres... my other half works in an emergency environment where checklists and standard operating procedures are now common practice.

DevOps is driving down failure rates and reducing recovery times.

In the world of tech Ops rightly protect the organization from Development thumping production systems into the ground!

But methodologies and tools that are commonplace in development teams are being adopted by Ops teams in new ways to improve responsiveness, efficiency, deployment frequency etc etc

Gartner forecasts "DevOps will evolve from being a niche strategy to a mainstream practice implemented by a quarter of Global 2000 firms by 2016".

IT Jobs Watch reports that the number of job postings for people with DevOps skills has increased by 347% over the last two years.

Is DevOps a thing?

DevOps is not a methodology or framework, but an attempt to break down barriers between development and operations that result in more efficient operations. DevOps is about culture, automation, measurement and collaboration.

Even if the Gartner and Jobs Watch stats are over exaggerated DevOps is a real.

DevOps is by no means a silver bullet, but it does promise to free up Ops Brain Space.

And of course in the same way that a pilot uses his/her skill and knowledge to land a damaged plane safely, when something goes wrong in DevOps a real-life person will be on hand to manage the issue.

Reduce time-to-market

If you're an Ops Engineer embracing DevOps will free up you're brain space and give you more time to focus on how to improve business performance rather just keep the lights on. It will give you new skills that are more closely aligned to business improvement and that are valuable in today's marketplace.

If you're a CIO DevOps is increasingly seen as a route to reducing time-to-market and accelerating business performance. But it's not a cure-all and primarily it's focused on cultural change supported by the adoption of new practices and tooling.