New Game Plus - Resurgence: (re)taking the cloud by storm

It's been a couple months, so I'm checking in to talk about how NG+ at Rackspace has been going, things I've learned, where some issues have been, and alluding to where we're going as this next chapter gets underway. 

• Yes, the cloud is undergoing a transformation
• Yes, OpenStack is at the center of our efforts
• Yes, folks are excited

Eliminate the fear of failing

Having traversed numerous corporate engineering factions, I've seen the incredible power of a genuinely open enterprise, I've witnessed how poor investment (financially and/or cognitively) can suffocate good ideas, I've caught self-centered leadership alienating motivated individuals, and I've glimpsed the folly of closed organizations masquerading as community leaders. Before I (re)started at the Rack, I didn't fully understand the situation I was stepping into; I was optimistic but skeptical. Now that I've been back for a couple months, I am happy to say the haters are wrong and that the talking heads are just that. Our teams are (re)embracing open technologies and are eager to (re)enter the global community. In my original NG+ post, I speculated that "Rackspace is an environment of nearly limitless potential..." today, I can confidently say my assumption was Spot on, and we're once again becoming an extraordinary firm; now to knock off some significant rust.

OMG, what is happening!?

As I step back into Rackspace, I find myself amid a technological revolution where the Cloud landscape is both a playground of possibilities and a maze of complexity at legacy scale. Returning to the Rack has been a great experience so far; it's like wrangling tech-savvy feral cats — a challenging yet endlessly entertaining game of "OMG, what is happening?!" While I've got jokes, and there's still a lot of internal herding that needs to be done, we're positively charged and just getting started. With our maneuvers set for waypoint OpenStack, we're poised for a spectacular (re)launch across the cloud landscape.

• Today, our teams are energized to solve complex problems
• Today, our teams are expected to make hard decisions
• Today, our teams are trusted

OpenStack as our launch vehicle

The teams I've been able to work with so far are incredibly talented, profoundly resilient, and excited about the future. Although there's a lot that we can be proud of, and we can applaud folks for fanatically keeping the lights on over the years, we can also censure others for not breaking our cycle of toil sooner. Much of our distress results from being the first mover with OpenStack; yes, Rackspace was the first. However, some of our more significant hardships can be attributed to sunk cost fallacy, an inability to say no, and/or a lack of humility. While some issues still need to be resolved, most of our hardships are behind us: the silos have been eviscerated, and teams are working together. As we right the cloud and build amazing products again, we will inevitably make some mistakes, and some might fall back into familiar habits; however, when we slip, we'll do so without fear: we'll acknowledge our shortcomings as a team and confidently proceed with the understanding that we're better for the experience. Every launch failure advances our knowledge and helps us find the right solution, which is a cause for celebration and not something to be feared.

An exhilarating journey

With the OpenStack-Enterprise (re)launch, the excitement within our collective team is real. Our enterprise offering is just the first step to an incredible constellation of products coming online, all of which are centered around modern, native, upstream, open-source OpenStack. So here I am, checking in, ready to embark and rip through the stratosphere with OpenStack as our launch vehicle. OpenStack isn't just back in vogue at Rackspace; it's at the forefront of our transformation. We're rocketing to success with witty retorts, a touch of wry humor, and a mess of space analogies. We're prepared to face the technology with a grin and a sharp quip knowing that laughter and self-deprecating humor are the best medicine for all tech-related tomfoolery. Medicine that we'll need as we (re)take our rightful place in the cloud.

Join us on what's bound to be an exhilarating journey, brimming with awe-inspiring tech feats, defeats, challenges, contributions, community, and shared laughter echoing through the verse.