We join Howard from last year as he attempts to break down yet more silos. This time his focus is further up the value stream, and includes the business. After discovering an increasing divide between the product management team and development team, Howard seeks to get to the root of the problem. After digging in, he finds the situation to be worse than he thought. A lack of trust between the teams has made collaboration an insurance policy, rather than a competitive advantage. Communication is sparse and often through suboptimal means, resulting in miscommunication when it occurs at all. Outright anger has caused meetings to be held in secret, cutting out key players. Silos have formed and what’s worse, there are guards at the doors. Quality is suffering and the company is now shipping software that no one wants to buy.

Howard will showcase how we have been taking DevOps principles and applying them to the point where the business meets the engineer. With the future of the company at stake, Howard compels the Product Owner and Scrum Master to find solutions that draw the team together. Moving away from individual judgement to recognition of the strengths in their differences, Howard shows that DevOps can solve cultural concerns for more than just Dev and Ops. It can transcend engineering and include the business to create an enjoyable and productive workplace.