Case Study: Western Union Takes Grass Roots Approach to Achieve DevOps Transformation

Charles Nelles

DevOps: Continuous Delivery

Western Union

Director of IT Operational Support

DO4T11S

@Cnelles

#CAWorld

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Abstract

Western Union, a 160 year old company that, at times, can look more like a dinosaur than a unicorn, recognized the need to modernize its software delivery practices. The Western Union shared-service Enterprise IT Operations team took a grass roots approach, starting small and measurable. The team used deployment automation as a foundational technology and as a lever to open the door for broader conversations with its dev partners. This session details how Western Union is building partnerships and driving outside-the-box thinking to execute to a DevOps vision. Its journey is not complete, but you will hear about the marked results thus far and how Western Union is gaining momentum with internal partners.

Charles Nelles

Western Union

Director of IT Operational Support

3 © 2015 CA. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.@CAWORLD #CAWORLD

Agenda

INTRODUCTION & OUTCOMES

BACKGROUND

PHASE VI RULES AND MINDS

PHASE I REALIZATION

PHASE II FIND A LEVER

PHASE III FIND A PARTNER

1

2

3

4

5

6

CLOSING7

Outcomes

HOPE ENERGY PERSPECTIVE TOOLS

Something to Take Home

CHARLES NELLES

My Backstory

Ops IT Infrastructure & Operations for 20+ Years

Process Guy- 10+ Years ITIL ITSM Consulting

Highly Regulated - HIPAA, HCFA, SOX, FDA, PCI

6 Years with Western Union

Shared Services Model - Ops & ITSM

AVERAGE AGE 13 | COMBINED AGE 76

Deploys per millisecond! Developers on call!Extra Sensory Monitoring!

9 YRS 7 YRS10 YRS21 YRS 11 YRS18 YRS

Age of the Unicorn

0

300000

600000

900000

1200000

Western Union: Dinosaur?

Focused on

Growth by AcquisitionMix of Old & NewDev vs Ops RiftSilo Thinking

FOUNDED IN 1865 | 164 YEARS OLD

Western Union: Return to Values

MODERN LEADERSHIP TRANSFORMATION

Customer At The Center

Phase I: Realization

THINGS ARE NOT OPTIMAL

FIND YOUR CONSTRAINTS (I know Brent & Herbie)

REALITY CHECK (There was once a Stonecutter)

GET THE RIGHT PERSPECTIVE

SUBOPTIMAL EXPECTATIONSThree pushes to deploy an

application (taking 10 or more hours)is NOT the best we can do!

Finding Your Constraints

But removing one bottleneckwill reveal others!

MEET BRENT & HERBIE(YOUR BOTTLENECKS)

Reality Check

There once was a stone cutter…

Moral: The stone cutter can shape the immovable rock—and so can you. SUNWIND

STONE

STONECUTTER

KING

Getting the Right Perspective

WHAT DO YOU CONTROL?

DATA OR GTHO!

Phase II: Find a Lever, Any Lever

“Do nothing that is of no use”2

“To rid yourself of old patterns, focus all your energy not on struggling with the old, but on building the new.”1

AUTOMATION

What Do You Control?

ww

ww

wwww

ww

w

w

DBA MonitoringNetwork

Deployments

Development

QA

DBA

Monitoring

Network QA

You

w

HELP!

Take Pity!

ww

ww

ww

www

ww

ww

w

COMPLEXITY TIME

Components

Component 1

Component 2

Component 3

Component 4

Component 5

Totals

Manual Steps Manual Time Automated Time

35 minutes

10 minutes

35 minutes

35 minutes

5 minutes

2 hours*

10 x 2 DC = 20

5 x 16 Instances = 80

4 x 16 Instances = 64

11 x 16 Instances = 176

4 x 4 Instances = 12

357 steps

7 minutes

2 minutes

4 minutes

2 minutes

3 minutes

18 minutes*

Reduction in Time

Reduction in Steps

97%

85%

Automated Steps

Data Is Currency!

11 steps

ReleaseAutomation

Phase III:Find a Partner, Any Partner

INTERNALMATCH MAKING

VENDORS THAT BRING VALUE

Finding the Right Internal Partners

WHO’S ALREADY PAYING

ATTENTION?

WHO’S A GOOD COLLABORATOR?

CHOOSE WISELY!

Safe to fail fast,no finger pointing

NOTTHIS GUY

HELP THISGUY FIRST

Vendor Value

TRUST

WORKING TOWARD SAME GOAL

LEVERAGE ADVANTAGES

SCOPED TO YOUR NEEDS

Phase IV: Bend Rules and Minds

RESPECT YOUR FREEDOM

UNDERSTAND THE RULES AND PRINCIPLES

IMAGINE IF WE COULD…WHAT WOULD THAT LOOK LIKE?

CHALLENGE PEOPLE AS PARTNERS NOT ADVERSARIES

Find the Right Balance

PANDILERIUM WAY TOO MUCH STARCH!

WHAT IF?

Find the Right Approach

AlwaysNever

VP ApprovalCut Off

MandatoryFormsPassesNo Bias

MethodIdealsGoals

Achieve

CollaborationPhilosophy

Yes, Bias

RULES PRINCIPLESvs

Challenge Your Teammates

AS TEAMMATES!

Hey could we?

Do you think?

It doesn’t hurt to ask!

NOT ADVERSARIES!

They won’t let us!

They’ll never go for that!

If you guys would just….

Be Like Water

“You must be shapeless, formless, like water. When you pour water in a cup, it becomes the cup. When you pour water in a

bottle, it becomes the bottle. When you pour water in a teapot, it becomes the teapot. Water can drip and it can crash.

Become like water my friend.”

—Bruce Lee—

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Q & A

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28 © 2015 CA. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.@CAWORLD #CAWORLD

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References

1. 2006 (Revised Edition Copyright 2000), Way of the Peaceful Warrior: A Book that Changes Lives by Dan Millman, Quote Page 105, H J Kramer, Inc., Tiburon, California, New World Library, Novato, California.

2. Circa 1645, The Book of Five Rings, Miyamoto Musashi

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© 2015 CA. All rights reserved. All trademarks referenced herein belong to their respective companies.

The content provided in this CA World 2015 presentation is intended for informational purposes only and does not form any type

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For Informational Purposes Only Terms of this Presentation

32 © 2015 CA. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.@CAWORLD #CAWORLD

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