Note From The Publisher On The Second Edition

Since the original publication of The DevOps Handbook, data from the State of DevOps Reports and other research continue to show that DevOps improves time to value for businesses and increases productivity and worker well-being. It also helps create nimble, agile businesses that can adjust to overwhelming change, as witnessed in the COVID-19 pandemic of 2020 and beyond.

“I think 2020 has been illuminating in showing what technology can do in a time of incredible crisis,” Gene Kim said in his “State of DevOps: 2020 and Beyond” article. “The crisis provided a catalyst for rapid change. And I’m thankful we were able to rise and meet it.”1

One of the underpinnings of DevOps and The DevOps Handbook is that it shows—and is indeed written for—the horses not the unicorns of the business and technology world. DevOps was never, and still is not, only effective at technology giants—the FAANGs—or startups. This book and the DevOps community as a whole have shown time and time again that DevOps practices and processes can take even the most legacy-riddled, old “horse” enterprise organization and turn it into a nimble technology organization.

In 2021, it is clearer than ever before that every business is a technology business and every leader is a technology leader. Not only can technology no longer be ignored or relegated to the basements; it must also be considered a vital part of the entire strategic endeavor of the business.

In this expanded edition of The DevOps Handbook, the authors have updated the main text where new research, learnings, and experiences have developed and shaped our understanding of DevOps and how it is used in the industry. Additionally we are pleased to include renowned researcher Dr. Nicole Forsgren as co-author to help update and expand the text with new research and supporting metrics.

Continuous Learning

We’ve added some additional insights and resources we’ve learned since the first edition came out. These “Continuous Learning” sections are highlighted throughout the book as you see here and include new supporting data and additional resources, tools, and techniques to use on your DevOps journey.

We’ve also expanded the book with additional case studies to illustrate how far DevOps has spread throughout all industries, especially how it has spread beyond the IT department and into the C-suite itself. In addition, at the end of each case study we have added a key takeaway or two that highlight the most important, though not exclusive, lessons learned. Finally, we’ve updated the conclusion to each part with new resources to continue your learning journey.

If the past five years have taught us anything, it is how important technology is and how much we can achieve when IT and the business speak openly and honestly, as DevOps facilitates.

Perhaps nothing illustrates this more than the rapid changes that were necessary due to the COVID-19 pandemic of 2020 and beyond. Through the use of DevOps, organizations mobilized technology to get services to customers, internal and external, in a moment of rapid, unprecedented change. These large, complex organizations, known for their inability to pivot and adapt quickly, suddenly had no other choice.

American Airlines also was able to take advantage of their ongoing DevOps transformation to build big wins quickly, as you can read about in Chapters 1 and 5.

Dr. Chris Strear relates his experiences using the Theory of Constraints to optimize flow in hospitals, as you can read about in Chapter 2.

In 2020 Nationwide Building Society, the world’s largest mutual financial institution, was able to respond in weeks to customer needs versus the typical years, thanks to their ongoing DevOps transformation. You can read more about their experience in Chapter 8.

But while technology is a piece of a successful transformation into future ways of working, business leadership must lead the charge. The bottleneck of today is no longer just technical practices (though they still exist); the biggest challenge and necessity is getting business leadership on board. Transformation must be co-created between the business and technology, and the theories presented here can lead that change.

The enterprise can no longer sustain a binary thought process: top down or tech only. We must achieve true collaboration. Ninety percent of that work involves getting the right people engaged, onboard, and aligned. Start there and we can maintain the resulting motivation into the future.