Cutover
January 12, 2021
Is your automation stuck or siloed? Our upcoming webinar aims to get you automating like a pro, demonstrating the importance of simplicity, and delivering hands-on guidance. Join us on Wednesday, February 3rd at 11am EST / 4pm GMT for a live discussion and practical advice on where to start. The session will also showcase Cutover’s Automation Runbooks, our solution for fully automating processes in a way that extends the value of your existing toolset. Register now
This is part 2 of a series of installments of our white paper: How to create an automate-first culture without losing control. Missed part 1? You can read it here. We will be releasing the entire paper in installments on the blog - but if you want to read the full piece - you can download it here
When it comes to automating ‘the right way’, a lot of the key considerations depend on the overarching goals for introducing automation, the process involved, your risk appetite, and the potential impact of failure or poor performance.
There are two flavors of automation which are outlined here:
Neither of these options is better than the other. Which you use is completely dependent on the trust in the automation, and risk and significance of the processes being undertaken. Increasingly, we’re seeing organizations leveraging both of those models, leading to the question: when is it right to use each model? Some guidance on this is outlined as we continue, but it is also highly dependent on your organization’s existing automation landscape and preferences.
As we can all identify in ourselves from time to time, humans are not very good at repetitive manual processes; we get bored, we disengage, and we experience ‘brain drain’ when tasked with doing the same thing over and over. All of these uniquely human traits can lead to error, which is why the introduction of machines and automation - whether as a replacement, a verifier, or a guiding source that can better inform a tired brain - is so beneficial. That said, you can’t put a price on human knowledge and experience, and this is often naturally codified within a particular person or team in an organization. This is precisely why documentation and knowledge sharing is so important to mitigate the risk of losing this crucial insight. As you introduce automation, it is crucial to prepare for failure and retain all relevant knowledge, in case there’s a time when your automation doesn’t work as expected.
With a hybrid approach becoming the norm, it’s so important to maintain any legacy knowledge needed of onsite tech processes. Here’s the panel’s advice for this challenge:
The conversation moved on to explore four common threads to automation, as outlined by Marcus Wildsmith, CPO at Cutover. To find out how to bring automation into the light, and the reason why ‘clutch control’ is crucial to effective automation - make sure you don't miss the next post in this four-part series.
Why not read the next section (and the rest of the installments, including a must-read Q&A) now by downloading the full white paper here.