DevOps and Innovation at Progressive

Selling cars is not usually what you think about when approaching technology solutions. But for Becca, IT Manager at Progressive, it’s the best way to illustrate what her team does to keep Progressive innovative in the technology space.

“When you go to a car dealership,” Becca says, “they guide you through every step of the car buying experience. They explain the features of the car. They take you on a drive around the block: first as the driver, then as your passenger. They walk you through the paperwork. Even when you make the purchase and take the car home, the dealership doesn’t completely go away. They’re there for you if your new car needs any maintenance. That’s how I think of my DevOps team.”

Becca’s team is a mix of hardware services and web development. They help with firewalls and do front-end development. Along with building solutions, they also provide support. This is one of her favorite parts of DevOps: owning solutions from end-to-end.

For many of their customers, Becca’s team is enabling their ability to access the data they need as easily as possible. For example, they recently helped a team that was waiting 30 days every time they needed to access their data. Becca’s team provided an automated solution that brought their wait time down to five days.

That’s what DevOps is at Progressive. Constantly looking for solutions to make things better. Focusing on simplification, automation, and always asking why. We want our customers to be able to do their jobs quickly without us,” Becca says. “Our goal is more automation and less human error. How can we make it so you have less work to get what you need? Asking this question is integral to what we do.”

Becca learned early on that to find the best solutions, she had to empower her team to offer their own ideas.

“When I meet with my team, I ask them: how should we solve this? This helps them focus on the vision and think more holistically. It’s not about just fixing things but focusing on strategy and understanding where we need to go as a company.”

In these DevOps roles, it’s important to be proactive. It’s not the type of job where you’ll come in and be told exactly what to do. That means we look for people who are constantly asking questions, and always looking for ways to improve. “To stay innovative, we need people who are passionate about making things better and easier. You have to be willing to experiment and fail quickly—and it’s okay! This is how we stay agile and find the solutions that innovate our practices.”

We’ll always be exploring ways to improve upon our technology. If you’re ready to be a part of an IT organization that empowers you to think outside the box with innovative solutions, consider joining our team. Apply for an IT job with us today.