Where am I on the evolutionary scale?
At the beginning of this chapter, I stated that the effectiveness of adopting CD and DevOps is very much dependent on where a business sits on the evolutionary scale. We've been through ACME's evolution and the phases it went through. Please take into account that ACME is fictional and its story is pretty simplistic. A real-world business is not simple—far from it—and it is pretty difficult to ascertain where a given business sits on the CD and DevOps evolutionary scale. Without this information, it's hard to understand how receptive, responsive, and open to adoption a business actually is.
With that said, there are some simple ways of getting a clearer idea. For example, the following list of questions can help you get a rough idea. Looking at your business, ask yourself the following:
The preceding is simply an example that gives you and insight into how you can—at a very holistic viewpoint—ascertain how mature the business is and where it sits within the CD and DevOps evolutionary scale. You will no doubt have some additional, complimentary, or more relevant questions you could use. However, if you follow a similar format, you will be able to get a feel for where things sit, and more importantly, what areas need the most focus. You should widen the net as much as possible to get a view from as many parts of your business as possible—that way, you won't come across surprises when you decide to take the plunge.