"It's not the Xs and Os. It's the Jimmys and Joes." — Unknown Football Coach
In coaching, there's an old saying: "The last one holding the chalk wins." When diagramming plays on a whiteboard, whoever has the marker last can always redraw the defense or offense to counter the previous coach's scheme. But ultimately, it's not the Xs and Os that make a play work. It's the Jimmys and Joes. The same is true in software development.
We once needed to transfer a legacy platform from FoxPro to a modern architecture. The principal architect of the legacy system was unavailable. We found a freelancer with FoxPro experience who could help us document the existing code and serve as a bridge. In another instance, the legacy system's gatekeeper attempted to charge an exorbitant fee for the migration. We hired a different freelancer, rewrote the interface code, and achieved the same outcome at one-tenth the cost.
DevOps needs a team that can deliver a stable and reliable service — one with tight collaboration between development and IT, a strong QA function, and processes that minimize the lag between a bug being identified and a fix reaching the customer.
Roadmap Considerations
◆ Who are the key individuals required to achieve the development goals? ◆ List and prioritize the major technical obstacles — don't allow them to be discovered mid-sprint. ◆ Identify where outside resources can fill gaps in the current team, domestically and internationally.