How Can I Get My Team on Board with CI/CD and Terraform?

One effective way to approach this change is to create a proof of concept that clearly demonstrates the return on investment. Showing tangible benefits can help sway opinions within the team.

Expect some pushback! Change is hard, especially when people are used to a specific workflow. In a similar situation, I found that showcasing how Terraform allows you to extract modules and simplify complex scripts into manageable pieces was a game-changer. Start small with examples and gradually introduce them to the new tools.

The biggest hurdle I faced was shifting the team's mental model from Ansible’s step-by-step approach to Terraform’s desired state paradigm. Run both tools in parallel to ease the transition—let Terraform manage new infrastructure while keeping Ansible for existing tasks. This lessens the defensiveness and makes the change feel less daunting. And definitely use that cookiecutter template to make onboarding new projects as easy as possible!

Consider a gradual approach. Start with small changes so that when new developers come in, they won’t even know there was a different method before. It’s all about shifting the mindset slowly over time rather than forcing a quick overhaul.

If you can demonstrate that the CI/CD implementation saves even one or two full-time equivalent positions, management is likely to support it. Focusing on how to boost efficiency is a great angle.