That’s the norm in most places. People are comfortable with rote, repetitive work like manual deployments. If you automate that away, then the only things left

That’s the norm in most places. People are comfortable with rote, repetitive work like manual deployments. If you automate that away, then the only things left are the unique, unpredictable, and uncomfortable parts. People don’t like that and will actively resist. If you don’t have buy in and authority from senior management (CIO / CTO level), just give up. If you thought you did but you’re still unable to enact change then you need to go back to senior leadership with everything translated into dollars. Not “better” or “faster”! Has to be “cheaper”!