Daddy DevOps

I found out this week I'm going to become a Dad.

It's a strange mix of emotions from excited, to terrified, to panicked and happiness.

Not too dissimilar to undertaking a big new project, scoping out how complex it is, getting close to go-live and then delivering it :)

[if any one you say I should use Agile processes for childbirth go to the back of the class - having a baby is definitely Waterfall]

At the moment I have time on my hands, which is probably one of the reasons I blog.  Time also gives you the room to think and ponder.  And because I spend all day, every day talking about DevOps I tend to think about it even in my downtime (and sleep) which is fairly plentiful despite a busy day job.

With my partner away this weekend, bored of playing on the Xbox and all my friends busy/married/parents, I've done a fair bit of sitting around of late.

I got around to thinking about how DevOps might compare to parenthood and I think there are some good analogies there.

My goals of being a good Dad are:

1. Ensure that the family is provided for
2. Ensure the health of my child
3. Ensure that the baby is happy
4. Ensure my partner is happy and supported
5. Ensure that the family are safe

My partners goals are probably very similar so we shouldn't have to worry about pulling in different directions too much.

So that's cool, we have 2 different parties (Mum and Dad) who's goals and incentives are aligned and will work together to accomplish them.  The missus might not know it, but she's soon to be living DevOps!

I want to be a good Dad (and partner) and I've been thinking about what I can do as an individual to contribute towards our shared common goals?  And how do I make it easier for my partner to achieve her goals?

Commonly, DevOps teams turn to automation in order to break down the silos between them and meet their common goals.

If I could automate the changing of a nappy that would help!

I'm not sure I can automate nappy changes (I'd be very rich if I could).  Does anyone know if Puppet have a Pampers module?

    
    nappy { '/baby/bottom/':
      ensure => clean,
      owner  => 'parents',
      type => 'huggies',
      source => 'crib',
    }

Alright so I'm going a little off topic here.  My point being that we have two different resources who goals are the same (i.e. ensure the health and happiness of little Johnny).

The stereotyped Dad in the 1920's that went to work and had little to do with bringing up the child is a good example of a silo.

I've gone to work, it's your responsibility to look after the child - it's not my problem

Apart from the fact I want to be involved and I want to help my other half, I'm incentivised to help as much as possible because if I contribute then ultimately the happier we'll all be.

That's DevOps.  Changing your behaviour in order to meet shared goals.

Super excited.  Lets just hope the delivery isn't Continuous.