The “How”

Effort focused on executing against a known challenge or adversary. This type of effort is concerned with the effectiveness of execution using tools, skills and methods. The cognitive context involves a focus on details and fundamentals as opposed to the bigger picture.

Future cost accrued when past-and-present shortcuts are taken from a technical perspective, including those in design or use of infrastructural components that are suboptimal. Manifests as a present cost beared by technical practitioners, the payments of which come in the form of maintenance due to breakdowns, poor system performance and slowed delivery/deployment cycles.

The justification for embarking upon an organizational development effort (i.e. to work on the business), which determines the resources and priority allocated to the breadth (the “what“), depth (the “how“) and the urgency (the “when“) of delivering a solution. The “why” is often driven by a combination of stakeholders, including functional practitioners, visionary practitioners and…

The timespan between the moment that a need has been defined for a human endeavor (the “what“) and the moment that technology has been fashioned (the “how“) to serve that endeavor. The “when” is most often executed by sequential practitioners.

The concise description of a human endeavor, which captures user story(s), workflow(s), feature(s) or capability(s) required to satisfy said endeavor. The “what” is most often articulated by functional practitioners.

What we mean when we refer to ops work…