There is an interesting obsession with having the ‘ultimate’ of whatever you’re talking about. This applies to most things in our society: jobs, houses, televisions, cars. You name it, there is an ‘ultimate’ version that everyone aspires to have. There is a lot of good to this behavior, to be sure. I believe strongly that everyone should be trying to get better all the time. Though I would point out that it is healthier to regard the ultimate [whatever] as a consequence or benefit of getting better rather than an end unto itself.

But it’s usually bad to want the ‘ultimate’ in your software delivery process. Goldplating has always been an enemy in software projects and there is evidence of it in how a lot of organizations have traditionally delivered software. It usually shows up in the culture, where high-intervention processes lead to hero cults and aspirations to be the ultimate ‘hero’ who gets releases out the door. Old-school, old-world hand craftsmanship is the order of the day. DevOps is the exact opposite of this approach. It focuses on a highly repeatable, scalable, and mass-produced approach to releasing software. And frequently.

Which brings me back to the contrast between a Ferrari and a Ford. A Ferrari is pretty much the ultimate sports car and ultimate sports car brand. There really is very little not to like. But the cars are exotics still built with expensive materials using manual, old world techniques. To be fair, Ferrari has a super-modern robotic process for a lot of their precision work, but they add a lot of customization and hand-finishing. And they ship a very few thousand releases (cars) each year. Sustaining such a car in the real world involves specially trained mechanics named Giuseppe, long waits for parts from Italy, and even shipping the car across the state if you don’t live close to a qualified shop. No biggie – if you can afford the car, you can afford the maintenance. But, let’s face it, they are a ‘money is no object’ accessory.

Ford has shipped a variety of performance models over the years based on the Mustang platform. In fact, there have been years where Ford has shipped more performance Mustangs in a week than Ferrari would ship cars in that YEAR. And there is a magic there for a DevOps geek. Plain ol’ Ford Motor Company has started selling a 200mph Mustang this year for about $60K. There’s nothing too exotic about it. You can go to your local Ford dealer and buy it. It can be purchased at one dealer and serviced at any other dealer anywhere in the country. Parts? No problem – most of them are in local warehouses stationed strategically so that no dealer would have to keep a customer waiting too long for common items. A lot of stuff can be had from your local AutoZone because, well, it’s “just” a Mustang.

The lesson, though, is that Ford has an economy of scale by virtue of the volume of Mustangs it produces. No, a Mustang is not as nice or as custom as a Ferrari. It is as common and mass-produced as anything. But a 200mph car that anyone can buy for noticeably less than a house, get parts easily, and have serviced at thousands of locations is an amazing and magical thing. It teaches a solid lesson about scalability and sustainability that should be inspirational for DevOps teams.

And maybe, just maybe, if your company does a good enough job at sustainably delivering your software, you might be able to afford that Ferrari someday…

PS – for Chevy zealots. I realize the Corvette cleared 200 on a “volume” platform first. But the 200mph Plastic Fantastic looks more exotic relative to the Mustang – which has a plain “sporty commuter” or even rental fleet version with a V6. And the common example of the economies of scale mean that the 200mph Shelby Mustang is still a bargain relative to the 200mph capable ‘vette, which is the point of this post.