Devops and watch system - where are the limits?

Everyone knows what the watch system is, right? You have the port watch and the starboard watch, the dog watch and all hands on deck and what not.
Every IT person interested in the "Devops" line of  work should be aware of how the watches work.

First of all - if you are raiding, fishing is good, trying to survive a storm, the crew is in "all hands on deck" mode, and so is the captain. The focus is on the task at hand, and it relentlessly there until the job is done, be that cargo hold full of fish, a conquered (enemy) vessel, or rounding The Horn and finding calmer waters.

What is less commonly known are the "idlers", which on larger ships are the people with special skills. Ships carpenter, sail maker, machinist and others can at best build a new ship, though not while under way. In general the specialists don't participate in the watch system, but they are there every day to inspect, fix, improve the condition of the vessel so that the "operative" side - the watches - have all systems shipshape, if not necessarily Bristol fashion.

So what we in IT consider a great step forward - Devops - is actually something where we could learn from the sailors. You can develop your ship, your crew, your equipment while under way. You can build more, you can set masts, fix engines, sow new sails, repair old ones, fix leaks, install pumps, heaters, thrusters, and whatever - but the ship needs to have the skills (idlers), the tools (a carpenter will not fix a leak without nails, oakum, hammer etc) and the time to do so.

What you can not do on your ship is to redo the hull, not while underway.

Now the devops idea is pretty similar. There are the people who run your system - the watch on watch crew. You have the specialist who can change, improve, modify and repair even substantial damage to the system.

How about a brand new system, something different? Can you do that by launching something and then tweaking and improving?
I don't know, but looking at the historical evidence in shipping, in maritime best traditions, I'd say it sounds a lot like trying to build a new vessel while sailing.  Your hull, your masts, your engine, your collection of spare parts (maintenance agreements in IT;-) are your architectural limitations and if you want to change those, you better do as the Captain would:

Sail home, and visit a naval (IT) architect and design and build a new ship (system) from the ground up.



http://www.cio.com/article/738544/Find_Out_What_Agility_Really_Means