"You do not have to be Albert Einstein to handle your IT assignments 'On Time' (i.e. To Schedule), 'At Cost' (i.e. To Budget) and 'To Specifications' (i.e. To Scope)"
Yaacov (Jack) Bar-Tor
Information Technology
YBT Services Pty Ltd
Executive Sponsorship
Getting most folks on the same page is a job best sent up the org chart as far as you can push it. In order to make changes to things like compensation and incentives, you need to get management buy-in at a high enough level that any necessary changes can be facilitated without a battle. This is one distinct advantage small organizations have over large ones, the ability to make tweaks to core human resources functions in order to influence the behaviour of individuals.
Having an executive sponsor is also helpful when spreading the good news about your cultural adjustments. It gives your teams a feeling that they aren’t going off on a hunt for DevOps nirvana only to have the plans changed on them a few months down the road. Resist the urge to start a grassroots movement; in this case, getting permission comes with more resources than asking forgiveness later.
Your executive sponsor is going to be particularly interested in the measurable goals you’ve developed, and will likely have their own that might fit in with your DevOps goals.