Organizations of all sizes fall victim to the wrong goal trap. Anywhere with more than 2 levels of management have intermediate layers with the goal of team growth or revenue increase at the expense of the larger system. Growing a DevOps team could lead to less efficient operations if they become an integral part to everyday operations. It would be better for them to be constrained and simply provide infrastructure and templates to the developers.
From “Thinking in Systems” by Donella H. Meadows, which I a few weeks ago.
THE TRAP: SEEKING THE WRONG GOAL
System behavior is particularly sensitive to the goals of feedback loops. If the goals—the indicators of satisfaction of the rules—are defined inaccurately or incompletely, the system may obediently work to produce a result that is not really intended or wanted.
THE WAY OUT
Specify indicators and goals that reflect the real welfare of the system. Be especially careful not to confuse effort with result or you will end up with a system that is producing effort, not result.