Explore valuable insights from Abdullah Jubayer on CloudOps, collaboration, and continuous improvement in software engineering. Learn how these principles drive success and innovation, benefiting both information technology companies and teams.

The role of CloudOps professionals is continually evolving.  We interviewed Abdullah Jubayer,  Cloud Architect at LawnStarter, to learn about the future of software engineering and its challenges. In this interview, he emphasizes the importance of collaboration, continuous improvement, and the pursuit of customer-centric solutions. Discover ways to enhance software development and utilize automation for business expansion. There are valuable insights for CTOs, CPOs, and founders.

1. To Foster Growth, Cultivate Continuous Hard Skill Development

Abdullah thinks it’s crucial to continuously enhance special skills. He speaks from experience, as someone who has worked with various technologies and held different roles throughout his career. 

“The future of software engineering lies in the hands of DevOps and automation. It is not just about adopting the latest tools; it’s about creating a culture of continuous improvement and collaboration.” 

DevOps and automation are transforming software engineering. This transformation is particularly evident with the use of tools such as Kubernetes, Docker, and CI/CD pipelines. These tools are being utilized in a rapidly changing landscape. By constantly enhancing one’s capabilities, software companies, their teams, and their products remain at the forefront of the industry. The ability to adapt to new technologies and best practices is what keeps a company competitive. More importantly, ensures products remain market-relevant. 

It is a valuable asset to know engineering, not just infrastructure CI/CD or infrastructure. Understanding what will be run on the server and how it may affect the overall service is important. It is even better if you have knowledge of security, networking, and storage. 

As an added suggestion, he adds, “Think from the customer perspective: do they know what server and tech we’re using? Maybe not. That’s not a point of interest. If it’s running smoothly and reliably and fast, that’s what matters.”. Different individuals have unique visions for their career paths. Some may choose to become highly skilled, specializing in a specific domain, while others remain open to a broader spectrum of expertise. 

In the past, it was usual to specialize within one area. However, today’s landscape values a comprehensive understanding of how things work. Abdullah encourages this broader perspective, emphasizing the importance of grasping the overarching structure of how an application operates. He advises his peers and team members: “In the old days, you had a core domain – today I find it important to understand at least the framework and architecture of how that application is running. I tell my guys: be persistent, don’t give up. There are always gonna be problems, but let’s work towards the solution.” 

2. To Ignite Synergy, CloudOps Must Fulfill its Role 

When cloud operations, development, and other teams work together seamlessly, software companies can ensure efficient product delivery, resulting in better products and happier customers.

Abdullah underlines that silos have no place in a distributed work environment. Instead, CloudOps professionals should embed themselves in continual delivery teams, fostering a culture of partnership to drive efficiency. He exemplifies, “We embed ourselves in delivery teams or partner up to make things happen and fully deliver the product. When we work together with engineering, it gets the job done quickly and efficiently.”

To smoothly integrate development and operations, C-level executives should align their goals for an efficient deployment process. Encouraging teamwork between different squads boosts innovation and strengthens company culture.

That’s why tech leaders and hiring managers need to look for certain behavioral skills when expanding their software solution development teams. 

3. To Cultivate Cost-effective Success, Nurture New Talent

For software companies, nurturing and integrating new talent is vital for growth and innovation. A smooth onboarding process isn’t just about endless streams of company presentations on business processes. Instead, it values individuals’ strengths and encourages exploration to foster a positive environment.

Abdullah’s approach to onboarding new team members (be they full-time employees or contractors) is to start with their strengths and gradually introduce them to new skills. He believes in creating an environment where they can explore their potential without intimidation, stating,

“If you hire a new person, start with their comfort zone, what they’re good at. After they build confidence, get them used to it, and then train and test how they can do and add value.”

Abdullah Jubayer’s approach to onboarding, starting with a person’s comfort zone, offers a blueprint for successful talent integration. Nurturing new talent is a strategic investment that benefits software companies, their cross-functional teams, and their products. It also prevents losing knowledge, delays in plans, and costs of hiring new employees in the future. 

4. To Break Barriers, Communicate to Overcome Resistance

Change is a constant in software engineering, and often, resistance to change can impede progress. Good communication helps overcome resistance to change and ensures that the team accepts new ideas and solutions.

Abdullah points out that when resistance to new ideas or changes arises, it’s crucial to understand the root cause. He advocates for concise and actionable meetings, clarifying roles and expectations, saying,

“If there’s resistance, understand why. Sometimes it’s the meaning of interaction. If they’re not willing to meet, make them shorter, concise, and come up with action items, expectations, and distribute roles and responsibilities. People have to see the value of your idea. If they’re not onboarded, they’re not going to buy in and have interest.”

5. To Maximize Impact, Bridge Product and Engineering Teams

Collaboration between CloudOps and product teams can make or break the success of a software product. The shared vision and alignment of objectives between these teams are vital for delivering customer-centric solutions efficiently.

To achieve business success, CloudOps professionals must collaborate closely with Product teams. Abdullah emphasizes the importance of a shared vision, stating, engineers need to collaborate with product specialists to be responsible even for the company’s profitability. 

“We are in this business to make money, not just for fun. We need to collaborate with Product to prioritize, spend time and effort into specific areas for which we will get the biggest bang for our buck. They can guide us to invest in particular areas, as opposed to us having 100 things to do and not having the bandwidth to do them all. “

This directly impacts on software companies’ ability to prioritize efforts effectively. Collaborating with product teams is important for software companies. It helps create successful products that meet customer needs. “We can work together to make sure we are on the right track and are investing in the areas it matters most in that context”, he adds.

6. To Drive ROI, Shift from “How” to “Why/What”

Software companies should prioritize customer value over getting caught up in implementation complexities. This change is important for software companies. It helps them create products that meet market needs. It also helps them provide value to customers. 

Abdullah emphasizes that the ultimate goal is a smoothly running, reliable, and fast system that delivers results to customers. He states, “It’s about why/what, not the how.” CEOs and founders should encourage this shift in perspective. This change is important for software companies. It helps them create products that meet market needs. 

It also helps them provide value to customers. Companies with these qualities are better at overcoming challenges and driving product success. In other words, it makes way for an increase in user adoption and, ultimately, a bigger market share. Abdullah is straight to the point: 

“Think of building a feature. No matter how good, there’s no point if there’s no user adoption. Optimizing, making it better is secondary. Get usage out of it first”.

7. To Thrive Amid Challenges, Embrace Change

Adaptability and resilience are essential for software companies and their teams to thrive in the fast-paced tech industry. They need to be able to adjust quickly and recover from setbacks. This ability is crucial for their success. Abdullah Jubayer’s encouragement to embrace challenges and persist in finding solutions underscores the need for continuous improvement.

He advises his team to be persistent and solution-oriented. He says, 

“We’re working with the tips of innovative tech, of course there’s gonna be challenges. It depends on how much you’re willing to learn and do to continue to provide top-notch service.”

Software companies with these qualities are better at overcoming challenges and driving product success.

8. To Be an Inspiring Leader, Recognize Team Effort 

Leading a software team successfully is a joint effort. Architects, leaders, and product experts come together to break complex tasks into manageable pieces. This makes it easier for software developers and Site Reliability Engineers (SREs) to understand their impact. 

Think of it as a boat journey—there can’t be multiple captains steering at once. Each team member has a specific role, and doing their part efficiently pushes the whole team forward. 

Throughout his speech, Abdullah highlights the importance of teamwork, where each member has a defined role in the journey. He believes that understanding business, team, product, and client requirements is crucial for effective collaboration.

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One crucial aspect is defining success, measuring it, and making sure that the delivery matches the intended goals. It is essential to grasp the business, team, product, and client details. Information might be processed by one person, but it’s up to all team members to think critically and ask questions.

9. To Solve CloudOps Problems Effectively, Don’t Forget to Close the Loop

One common mistake is not closing the loop effectively. Abdullah points out the significance of looking back and asking, “Did we really answer the main question correctly?” He discusses the importance of measuring success and ensuring that problems are effectively addressed. To him, this is a crucial element in ensuring that solutions are effective and problems don’t recur.

Making assumptions can be tempting, but it’s not always helpful. While they might save time, wrong assumptions can lead to time wasted. To avoid these pitfalls, teamwork and open communication are key. 

These practices help everyone fully understand the problem before trying to find a solution. Collaboration and communication help in understanding the problem before rushing to solutions.  By doing so, software companies ensure that their solutions are effective and their teams can deliver successful products.

10. To Steer Clear of The Cost of a Lack of Collaboration, Avoid Isolation

Insufficient collaboration can have big consequences for software companies, affecting their products, teams, and finances. When important teams in a company do not collaborate effectively, it leads to wasted effort, conflicting priorities, and inefficient projects. These issues have a negative impact on the company’s bottom line.

If you’re wondering how to boost team performance, this is it. Breaking down silos is essential to ensure there’s no service disruption, thereby safeguarding customer satisfaction.  When we solely approach this from a CloudOps perspective, engineers may formulate an initiative or project that demands a large commitment to upgrade the technology solely to maintain the status quo.

Abdullah Jubayer draws from his extensive experience to provide a real-world illustration of the ramifications of ineffective collaboration. He shares a compelling example from his journey. 

“In certain instances, we’ve embarked on such endeavors only to later realize that the technology was destined for decommissioning. This experience served as a stark reminder of the substantial time and resources expended due to a lack of collaboration. We could have redirected those resources towards projects that not only promised higher returns but also contributed to our long-term success.”

This serves as a potent real-life example of the temporal and financial costs associated with suboptimal collaboration. It underscores the critical importance of cultivating a culture of collaboration within software companies to enhance team effectiveness and bolster product success. By recognizing these consequences, organizations can proactively prioritize collaboration, thereby maximizing the benefits it bestows upon their teams and products.

Recap: Charting the Course to CloudOps Success

Abdullah Jubayer’s insights offer valuable lessons for both aspiring and seasoned CloudOps professionals. By embracing the principles of collaboration, continuous improvement, and a customer-centric approach, professionals can optimize their cloud operations and deliver outstanding results for their organizations. 

Watch the video below to hear Abdullah talk about his experience with Ubiminds’ staff augmentation model. In this exclusive video testimonial, he details how our collaborative approach to talent-as-a-service has made a tangible impact on his projects and the success of his teams. Abdullah’s story is a testament to the effectiveness of our services in the real world of software engineering.

Curious to learn more about what Ubiminds can do for your CloudOps efforts? Drop us a line below. 

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