How to Manage a DevOps Team: Q&A With the Manager of New Relic Mobile Team

DevOps can significantly enhance software development by fostering a collaborative environment between traditionally siloed roles, enabling teams to deliver software quickly and efficiently, as demonstrated by New Relic's Mobile APM team. Jason Poole, a senior software engineering manager at New Relic, emphasizes the importance of having a "T-shaped" team where members possess expertise in specific areas but are also capable of working across the entire stack to ensure productivity even during absences. The team operates in weekly sprints, balancing feature development and reliability work, while employing a proactive approach to incident prevention and management, including a unique "gut feel" method for deciding when to conduct postmortems. Communication within the team is streamlined by focusing on one minimum marketable feature (MMF) at a time, and collaboration is encouraged through practices like swarming and continuous improvement of processes. Automation tools such as Grand Central and Container Fabric support their DevOps operations, which include frequent deployments and rigorous monitoring of application performance using New Relic's own solutions. This DevOps model, characterized by shared goals and empowered decision-making, has been pivotal to New Relic's success and team health.