DevOps works when it's intentional; like when IT staff have DevOps as part of their official job description, are separate from the development team and have their own manager. DevOps isn't simply an application developer who's been granted an admin account so they can be the go-to guy for production deployments and account management.
"Do not seek to follow in the footsteps of the wise. Instead, seek what they sought." - Matsuo Basho