October’s #OpenOrgChat brought together members of the open organization and DevOps communities for rapid-fire discussion of the ways organizational cultures are changing. Miss it? Read the recap below.

Q1: How would you describe DevOps in a single tweet?

A1: #DevOps is a culture, mentality, and practice for continual improvement and collaboration #OpenOrgChat

— Jason Hibbets (@jhibbets) October 20, 2016

A1: #DevOps: Developer+Operations Teams working together, fr product definition through delivery, to create customer success. #OpenOrgChat https://t.co/NFSTt8b2sw

— Leslie Hawthorn (@lhawthorn) October 20, 2016

A1: Development + Operations = a self-contained team trusted with the dev/release cycle from start to finish. #DevOps #OpenOrgChat https://t.co/bAi49GGFzJ

— Allison (@allisonsm7) October 20, 2016

A1: The collab & comms of developers & operations while automating sw delivery & infrastructure change #OpenOrgChat https://t.co/7SzzCQHgaK

— David Egts (@davidegts) October 20, 2016

@openorgbook A1: People work together to get stuff done- stop getting in the way of themselves, their process, and their tools. #OpenOrgChat

— Jen Krieger (@mrry550) October 20, 2016

A1 @openorgbook #DevOps: Bringing developers and operations together, or, “if I go down, you’re going down with me!” 😀 #OpenOrgChat

— Thomas Cameron (@thomasdcameron) October 20, 2016

A1: DevOps is the integration of product managment, Dev, QA, Ops, and security #OpenOrgchat

— Jeff Mackanic (@mackanic) October 20, 2016

Q2: What is “agility” and why is it so important to teams and orgs today?

A2: Nimbleness. If you can’t respond to the needs of the org, the org will suffer & fall behind. #OpenOrgChat https://t.co/t5UOz0A5zh

— David Egts (@davidegts) October 20, 2016

.@openorgbook A2 the ability to react to business demands & bring new resources (tech/human) to bear to solve problems quickly #OpenOrgChat

— Thomas Cameron (@thomasdcameron) October 20, 2016

.@openorgbook A2 agility is important b/c it can help transform your biz from reactive to proactive #openorgchat

— Thomas Cameron (@thomasdcameron) October 20, 2016

A2: Agility is enabling the right people to do the right things at the right time, whether or not it was planned in advance. #OpenOrgChat https://t.co/lSwYI4XhUU

— Allison (@allisonsm7) October 20, 2016

A2: Responding to change quickly & effectively – not clinging to processes that don’t work. See also https://t.co/p2KmnuRhMv #OpenOrgChat https://t.co/WDdNAMfXyw

— Leslie Hawthorn (@lhawthorn) October 20, 2016

A2.1: Agility is the ability to quickly react or pivot to new information and make quick decision for next steps #DevOps #OpenOrgChat https://t.co/9gNy7RZZNZ

— Jason Hibbets (@jhibbets) October 20, 2016

A2.2: Agility is important because it allows you to fail faster in order to succeed quicker #DevOps #OpenOrgChat https://t.co/9gNy7RZZNZ

— Jason Hibbets (@jhibbets) October 20, 2016

A2: stakeholders, funding/aims, technologies, all change so quickly that we need to be flexible in our projects and direction. #OpenOrgChat

— janflowers (@supaflowerchic) October 20, 2016

Q3: What the relationship between your team’s tools and its culture?

A3: Teams’ tools define orgs’ culture, for better or worse. Related: Conway’s Law https://t.co/pRwaM8DC99 #OpenOrgChat https://t.co/bmj6J9cPe0

— David Egts (@davidegts) October 20, 2016

A3: In reference to culture or tools, our teams try things & use what works — nothing more and nothing less #CollaborateOrBust #OpenOrgChat https://t.co/GLjDwSINOx

— Allison (@allisonsm7) October 20, 2016

A3: Teams need tools that allow workflow transparency & collab. But tools are not culture-how people interact with people *is* #openorgchat https://t.co/AkJfOffnCc

— Leslie Hawthorn (@lhawthorn) October 20, 2016

@openorgbook A3.1 I find that teams tend to go immediately to the selection of a tool to solve a problem #OpenOrgChat

— Jen Krieger (@mrry550) October 20, 2016

@openorgbook A3.2 … before fully understanding the problem they need to solve. Tool selection costs $ – understand flow 1st. #OpenOrgChat

— Jen Krieger (@mrry550) October 20, 2016

A3: culture eats strategy and tools. If some team members reject certain tools it can be a problem – any ideas how to solve? #OpenOrgchat

— Jeff Mackanic (@mackanic) October 20, 2016

As technologists, we tend to think every problem has a tech solution Even social problems e.g. people not talking to each other #openorgchat https://t.co/XhdV3bLkiT

— Leslie Hawthorn (@lhawthorn) October 20, 2016

Q4: What is a culture of “blamelessness” and why is it important today?

@openorgbook A4.1 Too many peeps have horror stories of earlier days in their career of what “happened during that prod outage” #OpenOrgChat

— Jen Krieger (@mrry550) October 20, 2016

A4.2 Blameless = Allowing people to make mistakes without fear of retribution, failure or other repercussion. #OpenOrgChat

— Jen Krieger (@mrry550) October 20, 2016

A4.3 This helps encourage curiosity with teams/individuals, the ability to try out something new, learn new things! #OpenOrgChat

— Jen Krieger (@mrry550) October 20, 2016

A4.4 That fear of the early days of IT has led to many of my colleagues being disgusted with the industry as it exists today. #OpenOrgChat

— Jen Krieger (@mrry550) October 20, 2016

A4.5 That disgust leads to burnout — See @HarvardBiz Nov 2016 mag for a fantastic article on burnout. #OpenOrgChat

— Jen Krieger (@mrry550) October 20, 2016

A4: Blamelessness culture creates a safe place to learn from & correct mistakes over focus on punishment. #OpenOrgChat https://t.co/4HsMphyjry

— David Egts (@davidegts) October 20, 2016

A4: Blamelessness allows for supportive collaboration and innovation. A sense of “we’re all in this together.” #OpenOrgChat

— Allison (@allisonsm7) October 20, 2016

A4: Accept that failures happen. Do not find people to blame and shame. Correct systemic problems that allowed failure to occur #openorgchat https://t.co/xgLrqt3Oyi

— Leslie Hawthorn (@lhawthorn) October 20, 2016

A4. #FailingFast is in the DNA of a blameless #culture #OpenOrgChat

— E.G.Nadhan (@NadhanEG) October 20, 2016

Q5: What important lessons can TheOpenOrg learn from teams practicing DevOps?

A5: Joint responsibility & accountability lead to continuous improvement & joint success. #OpenOrgChat https://t.co/yz0YpRL2Uu

— David Egts (@davidegts) October 20, 2016

A5: A good #DevOps team can demonstrate the power of transparency, communication, accountability, et al in real-time action. #OpenOrgChat https://t.co/vt7QSU9Tnx

— Allison (@allisonsm7) October 20, 2016

A5: Communicate early & often + understand that you need to repeat ideas again & again for people to truly be brought along #openorgchat https://t.co/GmARLPMooq

— Leslie Hawthorn (@lhawthorn) October 20, 2016

@openorgbook A5.1 I honestly think this question is worded backward. 🙂 #OpenOrgChat

— Jen Krieger (@mrry550) October 20, 2016

A5.2 To me, #theopenorg reads like a handbook on how organizations can move out of the culture that they have today … #OpenOrgChat

— Jen Krieger (@mrry550) October 20, 2016

A5.3 towards something that is easier to live with. The ability to have open and transparent conversations #OpenOrgChat

— Jen Krieger (@mrry550) October 20, 2016

A5.4 is a critical foundation of any DevOps movement at an organization. #OpenOrgChat

— Jen Krieger (@mrry550) October 20, 2016

A.5. Sustained, incremental execution with continuous monitoring is vital for teams to be effective at any activity #OpenOrgChat #DevOps

— E.G.Nadhan (@NadhanEG) October 20, 2016

A5: In a volunteer community, have long term plan, else burnout trying to keep the lights on. #OpenOrgChat https://t.co/wUxo1rJIKy

— janflowers (@supaflowerchic) October 20, 2016

Q6: What role does management play in implementing a more bottom-up approach to IT?

A6: Role of manager is evolving to one of leader/enabler — manager’s job is to inspire and empower, then get out of the way. #OpenOrgChat https://t.co/hU18E8RxKP

— Allison (@allisonsm7) October 20, 2016

A6 management needs to FULLY support the change, make it ok to fail en route, and celebrate the work getting there. #OpenOrgChat

— Thomas Cameron (@thomasdcameron) October 20, 2016

A6: Articulate aspirational goals & let the knowledge & skills of the broader org fill in the details. #OpenOrgChat https://t.co/pavEhAciaz

— David Egts (@davidegts) October 20, 2016

A6: Management needs to allow teams to experiment, fail, and learn quickly, guide along the way with blameless feedback #DevOps #OpenOrgChat https://t.co/fGcmc81jlJ

— Jason Hibbets (@jhibbets) October 20, 2016

Q7: What strategies for lowering barriers to collaboration have you found to be most effective?

@openorgbook A7.1 Time out. https://t.co/X6l6ezvTpc (just kidding) #OpenOrgChat

— Jen Krieger (@mrry550) October 20, 2016

A7.2 Most often the easiest way for me to get folks past that collab barrier is to lay out the boundaries of engagement. #openorgchat

— Jen Krieger (@mrry550) October 20, 2016

A7.3 Who is working on what, when are they working on it, why are they working on it, how are they working on it- etc. #openorgchat

— Jen Krieger (@mrry550) October 20, 2016

A7.4 It’s important to ensure that everyone is along for the ride. (e.g do you really understand what we are saying?) #openorgchat

— Jen Krieger (@mrry550) October 20, 2016

A7: Explain the what and the why, then let everyone figure out the how. Sense of ownership brings accountability & engagement. #OpenOrgChat https://t.co/g1nGD3FBts

— Allison (@allisonsm7) October 20, 2016

A7: Ask how you can meet your colleagues’ needs 1st, then tell them your own Negotiate agreement Be honest *and* compassionate. #OpenOrgChat https://t.co/9hvaoFxR3V

— Leslie Hawthorn (@lhawthorn) October 20, 2016

A7: ask questions, listen, from @davidegts #nobleintent always, blameless post mortem #OpenOrgchat

— Jeff Mackanic (@mackanic) October 20, 2016

Q8: TheOpenOrg reacts to hierarchy; DevOps reacts to waterfall. What do these outmoded systems have in common?

@openorgbook A8.1 Outmoded is not the word I would use w/ waterfall! #openorgchat 😉

— Jen Krieger (@mrry550) October 20, 2016

A8.2 I still firmly believe there is a time and place in which it is a valuable methodology to follow. #OpenOrgChat

— Jen Krieger (@mrry550) October 20, 2016

A8.3 The trouble we have as an industry is the blind following of whatever fad is new… microservices, devops, agile, etc. #OpenOrgChat

— Jen Krieger (@mrry550) October 20, 2016

A8.4 without looking into the reasons why we made the decisions we made in the past. My favorite quote recently was #openorgchat

— Jen Krieger (@mrry550) October 20, 2016

A8.5 @laserllama talking about devops and how it was just the new problem we introduced #OpenOrgChat

— Jen Krieger (@mrry550) October 20, 2016

A8.6 to solve the human problem we didn’t solve with waterfall. People are the hardest problem we have, not tools. #OpenOrgChat

— Jen Krieger (@mrry550) October 20, 2016

A8: They do not inspire people. People are amazing. We need org structures that empower people – not constrain #OpenOrgchat

— Jeff Mackanic (@mackanic) October 20, 2016

A8: Both operate from a “Command and Control” mindset. Stymies creativity & people’s willingness to experiment. #OpenOrgChat https://t.co/VtlK9lDefm

— Leslie Hawthorn (@lhawthorn) October 20, 2016

A8: When you’re in your bubble, you don’t focus on the big picture or the mission or the success of the org. #OpenOrgChat https://t.co/YgQPNxxbrW

— David Egts (@davidegts) October 20, 2016

A8 we should also remember that they were “the best” but are being replaced. I wonder what’ll replace what is “best” today? #OpenOrgChat

— Thomas Cameron (@thomasdcameron) October 20, 2016

Q9: How can you act as an effective change agent in your organization?

A9: Lead by example. Show respect. Have trust in others. Inspire and empower, then get out of the way. #OpenOrgChat https://t.co/OrFzrYGgYJ

— Allison (@allisonsm7) October 20, 2016

A9.1 Always be listening with your ears first before responding with the solution to someone’s problem. #OpenOrgChat

— Jen Krieger (@mrry550) October 20, 2016

A9.2 Always connect people together when they are equally passionate about a topic. They will work together with great value. #OpenOrgChat

— Jen Krieger (@mrry550) October 20, 2016

A9.3 And NEVER EVER give up no matter how hard your day is, or how sucky people were. Remember, they’ll love you in the end. #OpenOrgChat

— Jen Krieger (@mrry550) October 20, 2016

A9 Lead by example. Take risks. Discuss failures. Be public to inspire others to try. I fail a LOT & that’s fine #OpenOrgChat

— Thomas Cameron (@thomasdcameron) October 20, 2016

A9: Openly admit mistakes Create safety when talking re: what doesn’t work. Embrace differences in people as source of strength #openorgchat https://t.co/8bL0rkX1TY

— Leslie Hawthorn (@lhawthorn) October 20, 2016