It’s a principle coined by Jocko Willink in his book Extreme Ownership, and it’s vital in the fast-paced world of DevOps, where teamwork and collaboration are essential for success.
Checking the ego means putting aside personal interests and desires for the greater good of the team. It involves being open to feedback, taking responsibility for mistakes, and avoiding arrogance or excessive pride. By doing so, we create a culture of collaboration, accountability, and mutual respect.
At Napier, we’ve found that checking the ego is critical in achieving our DevOps goals. Here are three examples of how we’ve applied this principle:
During our daily stand-up meetings, we ensure that everyone has an equal opportunity to speak and share their ideas. By valuing everyone’s input and contributions, we create a culture of inclusivity and collaboration.
We make it clear that incident post-mortems are not about assigning blame but rather about learning from our mistakes and preventing them from happening again. By focusing on the bigger picture and prioritising the team’s success, we can have productive and constructive post-mortems that lead to continuous improvement.
Before new code is merged into the main branch, it undergoes a thorough review process by other team members. This process not only helps to catch any bugs or errors but also provides an opportunity for team members to learn from one another and share their expertise. We encourage team members to check their egos and focus on the quality of the code rather than on personal opinions or preferences.
Whether it’s during daily stand-up meetings, incident post-mortems, or peer reviews, we put the team first and work together towards our common goals. In doing so, we become stronger, more effective leaders and team members, and ultimately achieve greater success in our DevOps initiatives.
By checking our egos and prioritising the team’s success, we create a culture of collaboration and accountability at Napier.
There are still days where I allow my ego to run unchecked, resulting in poor decisions and leadership. But the ability to recognise this and correct it is slowly becoming engrained and habitual.
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