SPS Commerce DevOps Event
Minneapolis, MN
2015-11-11

distributed: of systems and teams

We endeavor to build consistency, availability, and fault tolerance into our distributed systems, but how do we build them into our teams? The human factors in devops require as much attention as do our technical implementations.

Collaboration, understanding, trust: we know how important these interactions are in a devops practice, but how do we enable them between disparate team members, especially in a distributed team? My company’s in California, and I’m nearly two thousand miles away in flyover country, USA. Being one of those little squares at the bottom of every video call gives me an outsider’s perspective on the inside of our organizational optimization.

Drawing in comparisons from theoretical computer science and practical systems implementation, I’ll explore how building understanding requires a practical application of great tools in a deliberate pursuit of a constructive culture.



Distributed: of systems and teams (SPS) from bridgetkromhout




To always be shipping…

What is your platform? Everyone has one, whether it’s Docker wrapped in config management wrapped in thousand-line fabfiles, bespoke artisanal hand-crafted shell scripts… or both! What promises can your platform make and keep? We craft platforms specific to our needs. I’ll talk about where I’ve been (spoiler alert: containers in production without hype) and what I’ve learned on this journey.

To always be shipping (SPS) from bridgetkromhout