It seems like just a few weeks ago that I went over the 2018 results with Gene Kim. That was an exciting few weeks for me, running over the report in prep and then having the opportunity to host a webinar with Gene Kim. Exciting times, but it's been almost a year and the 2019 report is out. You can download the 2019 Accelerate: State of DevOps Report from the DORA site and read it yourself, but I found a couple interesting things in the report.

As expected, companies adopting DevOps are outperforming those that don't, at least in the metrics measured. In fact, it appears that the high performers continue to outperform low performers in two major ways: speed and stability. What's interesting, and as was pointed out by Kendra, is that these aren't on the same scale, meaning there isn't a trade-off between the two metrics.

You can move fast and achieve higher stability. In fact, moving fast can lead to higher stability if you are learning and growing from your efforts to build and deploy software. This includes the database, though that's not called out in this year's report. Instead, the report talks about ways to achieve speed and stability.

One of those is tools, and more importantly, easy to use tools. Staff will turnover or change positions. Knowledge can be hard to share in busy environments, so tooling is important. Bespoke, bought, homegrown, open-source, it's important that the tooling is easy to understand and that it performs at some job in an efficient manner.

There are other items in the report, but one thing I think we often ignore is that sticking with your old process and people doesn't mean you'll fail. You clearly have some people and process in place that works, as you're in business now.

However.

Both speed and stability help you work more efficiently. They help you compete better against others, and should ensure you reach your goals sooner. Speed increases value for customers, which in turn should help you improve how your organization functions. Stability makes both customers and staff happy. One thing the report points out: productivity has a positive impact on workers. They deal with stress better and burnout less.

Happier employees are hopefully helping your organization with more creativity in solving problems, more engagement with customers' success, and less turnover. DevOps is better for your software, and your staff.

If you want to learn more, I'm hosting a webinar next week with Jez Humble to go over the report.