Challenges to be expected when implementing a DevOps transformation program – Ticketmaster International’s experience

New for 2016, with an exceptional line-up of speakers including heads transformation, agile and DevOps specialists, The National DevOps Conference will take place on the 17-18 May 2016 at The British Museum.

Taking the stage on first day will be Stephen Williams, VP Engineering, Ticketmaster International, who will be presenting on a DevOps case study.

“My talk is on how we defined a DevOps strategy and programme within Ticketmaster, which allows flexible planning of how geographically distributed teams progress,” Williams explained.

“The second half of the talk will present some of the lessons we’ve learnt and the challenges to be expected when implementing a DevOps transformation programme.”

Stephen Williams, VP Engineering, Ticketmaster International, will be presenting on: ‘DevOps – Strategy, Rollout & Lessons Learnt' at The National DevOps Conference.

Stephen Williams, VP Engineering, Ticketmaster International, will be presenting on: ‘DevOps – Strategy, Rollout & Lessons Learnt’ at The National DevOps Conference.

DevOps is critical to business wishing to reduce time to market

“DevOps (bringing Dev and Ops together) is really an extension to agile (bringing Dev and QA together), being responsive to business needs and enabling change in direction (pivoting) quickly where required and therefore being more innovative,” Williams said.

DevOps enables this by allowing changes to be deployed into production fast whilst reducing waste and risks. By going faster the organisation is able to get faster feedback on the impacts of the changes.

“You can liken this to the difference between having 1 shot on goal versus having 100 shots on goal in the same time frame. You’re more likely to score a goal when you have 100 shots. Therefore as we go faster the more innovative we can be,” Williams added.

What can organisations learn from Ticketmaster’s DevOps journey?

Williams explained what delegates at The National DevOps Conference will be able to take away from his presentation.

“My key takeaways are: Standardised where it makes sense, so teams can communicate, and share learnings and skills. Focus on small wins and removing waste. Measure what you can and show the impact of the impact of the changes, then expand to more meaningful measurements. Organise teams to include cross-functional skills Dev-QA-Sec-Ops and empower them to automate wherever possible,” Williams said.

“Finally be prepared for a transformational journey. There’s no short cut, and although the technical change is hard, be prepared that organisational change could be harder.”

Why attend The National DevOps Conference?

The National DevOps Conference provides an ideal environment for learning, networking and developing skills.

Williams shares his advice on attending the conference: “It’s always great at a conference such as this because you have such a wide array of people from different businesses, different viewpoints and different business domains and problems. Understanding other people’s approaches and the problems they’ve solved can only be a good thing to expand and strengthening one’s own knowledge and understanding of the DevOps domain space.

“It’s also a great opportunity to network, making those relationships that can help you draw on expertise post conference, as well as other potential business opportunities.”

Software testing and QA streams

In addition to bringing excellence, best practices and practical advice from the DevOps scene, The National DevOps Conference will include two software testing & QA streams for those interested in learning about testing’s role in the software development lifecycle.

These streams will include presentations from the public, retail, financial and gaming sectors.

The National DevOps Conference is sponsored by Hewlett Packard Enterprise, Perfecto, iSQI, Neotys, Delphix, CAPITA, nFocus, Valuelabs, Applause, Infostretch, IBM, Parasoft, BCS, Polarion, iTrinegy, CA Technologies, SMT Software Services, and Undo Software.

31 Media, organisers of The National DevOps Conference and publishers of TEST Magazine would like to thank its sponsors for their support.

Written by Cecilia Rehn.

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