Steve Thomas

Lean Pizza is a way to create a culture of learning from the history of powerful ideas. Lean Pizza is basically Lean Coffee, where at the end of the discussion we have an application piece, and we try and get people to run small experiments and test out some of the ideas they came up with during the discussion.

Now, the great thing about Lean Coffee is we start by asking people, "What do they want to learn?" It's about them and their concerns, and the group actually helps them solve their problems. You're creating a culture of learning and things.

So when I switched from Lean Coffee to Lean Pizza, I lost 50 pounds. Why? Because I was facilitating, and I had to actually shut up and listen to people. Who knew? They actually had something to say, and if I listen to them, I know how to help them.

Create a culture. So the Oxford English Dictionary, in 1430, defined culture as cultivation or tending the soil, and that's what we need to do with our people. We need to cultivate them, help them grow, protect them. When they make a failure, we need to teach them it's an opportunity for learning.

Now, we have this myth of the genius, this lone guy who sits up at MIT in his office, and he comes down with these great ideas, and we all just follow them. This is called an ego system.

But the reality is it's more like a scenius. I did this before the conference. It's an ecosystem, and we can all learn from each other. We collaborate, we share ideas, we steal from ideas, and we give back to the community. We give back to the scenius. We have a wonderful scenius here. Share with each other.

But let's follow Gene down the rabbit hole into DevOps land and learn from the history of powerful ideas.

Deming: "It's not necessary to change. Survival is not mandatory."

Stop shaking your head at me, Gene. Okay.

"But I don't want to go among mad people," Nicole remarked.

"Oh, then you should go visit W. Edwards Deming," said the Willis.

So one of the things I do during Lean Pizza is I quote from history. "In God we trust; all others bring data," when people do this. And we need to be like John the Cheshire Cat Willis, where we dig deeply, and we study history, and we study across broad disciplines, and we bash these ideas together, hopefully in a safe place, and they don't kill each other.

"But how do you know I'm mad?" said Nicole.

"You must be," said the Willis, "or you wouldn't be talking about science."

So that's another thing we do in the Lean Pizzas. We actually try and be able to follow the scientific experiment, run experiments, test your ideas.

"Why, sometimes I believe as many as six impossible things before breakfast," said the old spa.

Yeah, sure, like 10 deploys a day? Right. It's easy for him. He doesn't believe in reality. It's one of those below-the-line things. He just thinks in representations.

Okay, so we're all here thinking about this DevOps elephant. Down, Simba.

Okay, so we're all blind men and women. We need to talk to each other and get a better understanding of what this elephant actually looks like.

And then we have the Mad Hatter, Jez Humble, who in one talk suggested, "Go find the people that really ticks you off, buy them lunch, and ask them about their concerns and how you can help." So I went to visit my friend Darth in security, and I asked him, and I got him to take off his mask. It was great.

Steven Spear, great thing. I love him. See a problem, solve a problem, share what you learned.

There is an anti-pattern: see a problem in somebody else's area, solve it in a way that makes you look good, and share how you're great, that other guy's an idiot. Kiss up and kick down. Weed that guy out of the garden. Cultivate.

So how do we create a scenius culture? We have to follow the retrospective prime directive, and I have to get to where I am to remember what the heck I was going to talk about for this.

Oh, people don't care what you have to say until they know you care. All right?

So another way is we have to protect risky behavior. No, dear, not like that risky business stuff. I swear I'm not bringing back any diseases.

And we also have to create good, healthy competition. So sort of like the DevOps Cup, the kind of competition that brings out the best in peer pressure.

And how do we create a scenius? We celebrate success. In the World Cup, James scored a goal for Colombia. Go Colombia! And the whole team celebrates. And when the team celebrates, it inspires the team onto greater success when you celebrate as a team.

So we also have to protect the renegades and the mavericks. I mean, seriously, have you seen John's Turbo DevOps Encabulator video? But we need to protect the renegades and mavericks because they're the ones who push the boundaries, push us beyond the edges.

So unfortunately, we live in a world run by people who believe in an ego system built on power, competition, and what's in it for me.

Our world is an ecosystem, and our only chance of survival is learning faster, cooperating, and loving one another. No, not in that way, dear, I swear.

Okay, so don't let what happens in Vegas stay in Vegas. Steal like an artist. Steal ideas from people here, contribute back, and then go home and start your own Lean Pizza.

Thank you.