“Those who flow as life flows know they need no other force”
Lao Tzu

Well, in order to survive in a changing environment, we need to react to the changes as fast as possible and adapt accordingly. To minimize the time, biological systems have to maximize the information exchange rate with the environment. The same applies to technological systems and methodologies, including DevOps. We can achieve this in several ways: by making our work visible, dealing with small batches of work, limiting WIP (work in progress), reducing the number of handoffs, eliminating / minimizing waste in the technology value stream [2]. All these principles and all the lessons that you will learn in the cyber-cell in general are based on the laws that biological systems (especially our nervous system) operate according to. A value stream is a set of actions we need to perform to convert a business hypothesis into features that bring value to the customer.

Make the work visible

Visualizing our work is important, because according to a mental model theory, reasoning itself is a visuo-spatial process. We use logical terms of our language like “if”, “or”, “and” and space manipulations to create and find different scenarios/models to solve problems [5]. It is easier to hold an image than describe it with words. The visual process is highly efficient, because visual system evolved over millions of years [6].

Reduce batch sizes of work and limit WIP

This is needed because our brain itself has limitations. Prefrontal cortex of the brain is responsible for reasoning. It serves as a small «theatre stage» where we can generate and hold our thoughts («actors»). The number of «actors» we can hold there simultaneously is limited and equals 7, or 4 (according to more recent studies). This prefrontal cortex tires very quickly and requires to rest [6, 7, 8]. What’s more, there are three minds in our brain. Reflex mind works based on reflexes and doesn’t need to rest. It is fast, unconscious, and autonomic. Reflecting mind works based on logic. It is slow, conscious, and rational. It enables us to invent things and find creative solutions to different problems. It needs to rest, as it requires a lot of energy to function. It can deal with one thought/task at a time, and is not designed for multitasking. Archiving mind serves as a «librarian» that receives information via sense organs and the aforementioned mind and stores the most important bites of it in the long-term memory. It helps to build a framework of knowledge that shapes the way we reason [9]. These three minds correspond to two modes that our brain operates according to: active mode/central executive network and passive/default mode. The last one needs rest and enables us to build our value system, understand who we are, and set long-term goals, which is of great importance for a development project [10, 11]. So, both reflecting and archiving minds have limitations and require rest. That’s why DevOps teams need to deal with small bathes of work and limit WIP [2]. As for the cyber-cell, it deals with small batches of work. For example, there are about 8 main proteins involved in the classical MAPK signaling. So, the pathway distributes responsibilities between them. For example, some proteins stay in plasma, while ERK2 can go into nucleus and transmit the information flow there. Having multiple sites for regulation helps to increase its flexibility and accuracy [4]. RNA polymerase works similarly. It produces and immediately proofreads small pieces of RNA and doesn’t transcribe the whole DNA at once. Each enzyme of the aforementioned pathway catalyzes only specific types of reactions (there are hydrolases, oxidoreductases, lyases, ligases, transferases and some others types of enzymes in general). For example, ERK2 is a kinase that belongs to transferases, specifically phosphotransferases [12]. Plus, enzymes have specific binding and regulatory sites, deal only with certain substrates and get regulated by specific regulatory molecules, thus limiting the WIP:

So, as you can see, in order to succeed, nature functions according to the same principles on different levels, including molecular one.”

Reduce the number of handoffs

The members of the classical MAPK pathway have certain level of autonomy. They have specific binding sites that allow them to recognize and bind to their substrates and don’t rely on any centralized authority in the cell to make their decisions [15]. For example, they don’t need to visit and «consult» p53 protein (one of the main molecules that regulate cell cycle / cell death). Classical MAPK pathway itself doesn’t need to «consult» with other MAPK pathways to function. The aforementioned enzymes also have specific regulatory sites, which brings even more autonomy and flexibility to their work. This way they don’t overload any molecule or mechanism in the cell with excess communication. DevOps teams might apply these principles and make their members self-sufficient enough to be able to deal with builds, testing and deployments by themselves. This way it gets possible to react to changes faster and mitigate the loss of information, which helps to increase the information flow speed [2].

Eliminate waste in the technology value stream

Our bodies are made of cells. They get nutrients from blood, and eliminate waste via lymph. Lymph stagnation leads to acidosis which manifests itself as different diseases. Just like that, DevOps teams need to remove waste from their projects in due time. Otherwise, they may get «sick», which manifests as a delay for the customer. Anything that leads to this is considered as waste: extra processes (actions that don’t add any value to the project), waiting, defects (incorrect or missing information), unnecessary manual work (due to lack of automation) etc. [2]. As for biological systems, RNA polymerases make about one error per RNA strand created during transcription [14]. They can add and remove nucleotides from RNA strands. And they proofread RNA transcripts to improve accuracy. RNA strands are used to create proteins during translation with the help of ribosomes. Sometimes things go wrong, and proteins get damaged. Cells get rid of these aberrant and unneeded proteins via proteolysis with the help of proteasomes [13]:

Optimize your work for customers (external and internal)

It is important to help our teammates and optimize the output of our work for them (internal customers). It has to meet certain requirements (stability, testability, security, configurability etc.). This helps to speed up information flow [2]. This is what happens in the classical MAPK pathway: each member activates the next one for downstream components. These lessons should help you to speed up information flow in your DevOps team. Remember, flow stagnation leads to swarm formation. And you don’t want your project to turn into a swarm. You want it to be a fast-moving river.

“Feedback is the breakfast of champions”
Ken Blanchard

Negative and positive feedback loops

Now that you know how to optimize the flow, let’s talk about its regulation. There must some regulatory mechanisms for biological and technological systems to adapt and survive in a changing environment. This regulation mostly happens with the help of the positive and negative feedback loops. The feedback is coming from external (customers and users / molecules outside of a cell) and internal (other members of the team / molecules inside a cell) sources. As for classical MAPK pathway, its activation may upregulate the expression of TGFa, which, in its turn, leads to the pathway overactivity. This is an example of a positive feedback loop. ERK2 activity is regulated by MKPs like DUSP3 that can inactivate it preventing overactivity of the pathway [15]. DUSP3 activity, in its turn, is regulated by proteasomes that may degrade unneeded or damaged proteins via proteolysis [13]. All this happens with the help of the negative feedback loops:

Deal with problems as they occur and near the source

Solving the problems as fast as possible and where they occur is important, because the sooner we react to them, the less harm they cause to our project and DevOps team. Our team members must have enough autonomy / self-sufficiency, so that they could find and fix problems themselves in their area of control, rather than relying on decisions made by a separate department. This way everyone is responsible for the quality of the project [2]. This is what happens in the classical MAPK pathway. RNA polymerase proofreads («tests») RNA strands during transcription. Testing itself is one sort of feedback. ERK2 activation problem get solved directly by MKPs like DUSP3, rather than via consultation with any centralized «department». MKPs activity, in its turn, is regulated directly by proteasomes via proteolysis. So, these members solve their problems themselves as they occur and near the source:

“Experiment, experiment, experiment – until it finally flows from within you. It is a hard road. But the result is also a deep inner satisfaction”
Jack Dickerson

Well, constantly changing environment requires biological system to come up with new ideas all the time for adaptation, which can be achieved via continual learning including experimentation. The same is also the case for DevOps teams and development projects. There must be an appropriate environment created for this. Fear of punishment for failures is one of the main obstacles in this case. Failures are just one kind of feedback. They show that something is wrong with the system. So, instead of punishing team members, it would be much more rational to redesign the system to prevent the same problem from happening [2]. As for biological systems, let’s take a look at RNA polymerase. If it makes errors, nature doesn’t punish and get rid of it. Nature tries to modify RNA polymerase and improve transcription accuracy. As you already learnt, it is a good idea to deal with problems as they occur and near their source. Team members must be autonomous enough to find and fix problems in their area of control to maximize the information flow speed. Then, acquired knowledge must be shared with the whole DevOps team to improve resiliency and adaptability of the system [2]. Behavior of DevOps teams in a changing environment depends on their world view. More realistic world view (the one that is closer to reality) makes their decisions and behavior more rational. Scientific world view is probably the most realistic one currently. So, DevOps teams must widely use scientific knowledge and scientific method. As for fear, according to Dr. Robert Young, FEAR stands for the False Evidence Appearing Real. False evidence distorts our world view and makes it less realistic. So, there must be no reasons for fear in DevOps teams for them to succeed. In regard to biological systems, molecules of MAPK pathway are not afraid of punishment, they just do their job according to their structure. As for MAPK pathways, they play a critical role in all eukaryotes, but different kingdoms (plants, animals, fungi etc.) have different amount and types of members. The latter is also the case for RNA polymerases. So, nature is constantly running experiments to adjust biological mechanisms to corresponding environment. For example, there are three MAPK pathways in mammals that get activated by different signaling molecules and have different members with different catalytic and regulatory sites. As soon as it finds a successful solution, it tries to preserve it and make available for the rest of the system. For example, all members of MAPKs have CD domain (a specific region of the molecule) which is evolutionarily conserved among different kingdoms [15]. Remember, that all three lessons you learnt so far are tightly interconnected and must be applied simultaneously.

“Speed, agility and responsiveness are the keys to future success”
Anita Roddick

Well, nature uses specific principles that ensure stability and adaptability of biological systems and strategies. Aside from the ones you have learnt so far, there are also such principles as resPonsiveness, heteROgeneity, decenTralization, rEdundancy, and CooperaTION, which form the PROTECTION framework [16]. We can also use this framework to ensure resiliency and adaptability of a DevOps strategy. The next five molecules on your journey here will tech you the lessons about the principles. My lesson is about responsiveness. There must be an interface in both biological and technological systems that allows them to respond and adapt to a changing environment. This interface has to enable cells to react to as external (outside the system), as internal (inside the system) stimuli. In regard to the classical MAPK pathway, it can respond to both external and internal changes with the help of signaling molecules. For this, cell membranes have receptors (like EGFR), and the MAPK pathway members have specific regulatory sites [15]. This is what we could learn and use in DevOps. We need to be able to respond to the requests and feedback coming from both external and internal customers [2].

“I think anything which promotes heterogeneity on the Internet promotes stability. Diversity in services, service providers, and separating the layers of the networking stack are all important”
David Ulevitch

You see, to ensure resiliency and adaptability of the system in a changing environment, it must be heterogeneous [16]. Heterogeneity is a result of experiments run by nature. It allows to choose the best way to react to environmental changes from a broad range of options. Plus, it helps the system to be prepared to a variety of scenarios. As for your journey here, you already know that there are three MAPK pathways. They have different members, react to a broad range of changes, and lead to different outcomes. The members of the MAPK pathways have some basic common properties (they are proteins), but, at the same time, they have unique features, what makes them heterogeneous. Heterogeneity allows to distribute functions and regulation of the MAPK pathways among their different members, which makes the biological system more reliable and flexible. Just like that, we need to make our DevOps strategy heterogeneous enough to withstand environmental changes.”

“I believe the role of the government is too big. Society must be more decentralized”
Pavel Durov

Well, in order to increase adaptability and resiliency of the systems and strategies, they must be decentralized. Functions and regulation of the system have to be distributed among different components. That’s why there are several MAPK pathways that have a lot of different members. The same needs to be the case for technological systems. Everyone must be responsible for the quality, security, stability and adaptability of the system [2].

“Redundancy is expensive but indispensable”
Jane Jacobs

Well, for a system to be stable, resilient and adaptive, it also must have redundant strategies to deal with environmental changes [16]. There must be plan A, as well as plan B, at least. For example, the same result (cell proliferation or differentiation) may be achieved with the help of all three MAPK pathways. Also, some of the MAPK pathways members may phosphorylate several amino-acid residues of their substrates. Plus, several molecules may serve as scaffold proteins for multiple MAPK pathways. This helps a cell to save resources and energy, which makes it more resilient [15, 17]. What’s more, MAPK pathways have a lot of members with different regulatory sites, which brings more resiliency to their work.

“Teamwork is the secret that makes common people achieve uncommon results”
Enoch Onuoha

Collaboration is important, because a group of components is much more powerful than them individually. It allows the group to reach goals that cannot be achieved by its components separately. As for MAPK pathways, they may collaborate with each other. Plus, the pathways themselves are the result of their members collaboration that is achieved mostly with the help of special scaffold proteins [15]. Different enzymes like RNA polymerase are often made of several subunits and may require cofactors (non-protein components) to function. Collaboration should help to increase adaptability and resiliency of both biological and technological systems [16]. Remember, that all the lessons you have learnt on your journey are tightly interconnected and must be used simultaneously.