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Module 4: Organizing for DevOps

Question 1: Conway’s Law implies that an organization will produce a design whose structure reflects the organization’s _____ structure.

  • Mission
  • Business
  • Technology
  • Communication

Answer: Communication

Explanation: Conway’s Law states that the design of a system will mirror the communication structure within the organization that created it. If an organization has fragmented communication, the resulting system will likely be similarly fragmented or siloed.

Question 2: Select the correct statement regarding aligning teams with the business.

  • Give the team a short-term mission.
  • Rotate people in and out of the team regularly.
  • Organize separate teams around the front end and the back end of development.
  • Empower teams by giving them end-to-end responsibility.

Answer: Empower teams by giving them end-to-end responsibility.

Explanation: Empowering teams with end-to-end responsibility means they can take ownership of the entire process, from development to delivery, and align their work closely with business objectives. This promotes accountability and a deeper understanding of the business needs.

Question 3: Select the correct statement regarding organizing teams for DevOps.

  • Having a DevOps team is an antipattern and separates Dev and Ops.
  • Forming an Agile team makes the organization Agile.
  • Dev teams follow Agile principles, but Ops teams do not.
  • DevOps is designed around silos that teams work within.

Answer: Having a DevOps team is an antipattern and separates Dev and Ops.

Explanation: The purpose of DevOps is to eliminate silos between development and operations. Creating a distinct “DevOps team” contradicts this principle, as it would simply add another silo. Instead, DevOps should be a shared responsibility across both development and operations teams.

Question 4: Select the person who wrote, in the book Continuous Delivery, “Bad behavior arises when you abstract people away from the consequences of their actions.”

  • Jez Humble
  • Werner Vogels
  • Elisabeth Hendricks
  • Andrew Clay Shafer

Answer: Jez Humble

Explanation: This quote is from Jez Humble, co-author of Continuous Delivery. He highlights how removing people from the consequences of their actions can lead to poor behavior, which is why it’s important to have visibility and accountability in the software development process.

Question 5: How can you avoid the problem of actions without consequences resulting in bad behavior?

  • Create cross-functional teams.
  • Keep Dev and Ops teams separate.
  • Limit pager duty to developers.
  • Limit on-call to Operations.

Answer: Create cross-functional teams.

Explanation: Cross-functional teams ensure that all members, regardless of their role (Dev, Ops, etc.), are involved in the full lifecycle of the product and have a shared understanding of the impact of their actions. This transparency and collaboration help prevent negative behaviors that arise from a lack of accountability.