On a quest to learn and practice more about DevOps & challenges, I continuously look for the opportunity to learn from practitioners, authors, thought leaders. I wanted to amplify my learning by investing my time and money in, particularly attending conferences. Where we could meet with like-minded people, connect & discuss with other practitioners, learn from pioneers leading the DevOps transformational changes for large & complex enterprises. These experts invest their time in research and individuals who continue to inspire our community with their work &contributions.
One such conference, a standout for me is DevOps Enterprise Summit (DOES) by IT Revolution which I had the opportunity to attend in 2016, 2018 and also presented on our DevOps Journey in 2019. I am grateful, and my work supported me that I had the opportunity to attend and present.
How I got attracted to DevOps momentum, my passion for keep coming back to the DevOps Enterprise summit, I shared here in a podcast interview.
In Gene Kim own words about DOES “Our goal is to create a conference that helps technology leaders succeed — we want to increase the likelihood of their success transforming their organizations and adopting DevOps principles and practices,”
In this post, I want to pay my tribute to DevOps Enterprise Summit as the London virtual conference starts tomorrow for providing me with a platform for continuous learning & connecting with so many of my DevOps heroes.
Why DevOps Enterprise Summit?
DevOps Enterprise Summit is a conference for the technology leaders of large, complex organizations implementing DevOps principles and practices. Here in this video, Gene Kim gives you an idea — why to attend? Now, continue to read to know my take on — why to attend?
DOES brings high-quality DevOps content to the community in the form of new and repeat Experience reports, Next-Gen Infrastructure & Ops, Subject matter expert talks, learning organizations and from the people pioneering the DevOps transformation in large and complex organizations.
Three days of great learning, they packed with fantastic content spanning different industries like Banks, Automobile, Sports, Government/Public sector, Airlines and others, carefully selected by the programming committee.
The best, DOES is a vendor-neutral conference, so you do not get bombarded continuously by Vendors pitching their products. Of course, Vendors and other sponsors make this even merrier as the expo hall, and sponsors booth gives you access to a variety of tools, framework, books, additional insights along with lots of giveaways for the delegates.
DOES is a conference with high standards in terms of its program, planning, execution, a well crafted and for highly engaging presentations, conversations and learnings, as a delegate you always get a lot to take away.
Why do I keep going back to DOES and this community?
In my opinion, — it is all about continuous learning, the inspiring DevOps transformation journeys, opportunity to hear solutions for DevOps common problems and some unique challenges. I admire how people have perceived some of the issues, how they have approached and overcome the obstacles. For learning more, please watch IT Revolutions videos of the past DOES sessions.
- The community makes it more valuable because you get to see, interact with delegates discussing the DevOps problems, challenges and solution in the hallway tracks, breakfast tables, in lunch gatherings, lean coffee table sessions, birds of a feather interaction.
- The contents are not about What is DevOps? It is about How to DevOps, How to lead and transform the DevOps? The DevOps problems & challenges that take centre stage. In this conference where I learnt about “Project to Product”, “Making Work Visible”, “Team Topologies”, “Agile Conversations”, “DevOps for Modern Enterprises”, “A Seat at the Table”, “Accelerate” and other exciting topics.
- Access to the DevOps heroes who have done amazing work in their respective organizations in transforming the way they work. The speaker’s corner is a great place you could hang out with speakers after their session, interact with them, ask questions and find out more.
- Connecting the thought leaders, authors, experts — the beauty is I get to see and connect with my favourite DevOps authors and experts.
- The impact DOES have on our DevOps community — publishing forum papers, DevOps books and now recent edition with #TheIdealCast podcast by Gene Kim.
- Diversity: I have seen as many as inspiring female presenters, panel members and talking about, not just about tools or skills, about leadership, mentoring, education and coaching the organizations with DevOps transformations.
- Finally, the DevOps confessions, I think the programming committee added this during DOES 2018, and I love these confessions. Stories that DevOps enthusiast wanted to share anonymously, the hidden truth, problems and realizations with DevOps transformations.
Every time, I go with several questions, being diligent and attentive. I ask for help and connect with people offline & online to find more, learn more and do more. Over the years, I have made good friends, including CEOs, CIOs, VPs, Directors, Distinguished Engineers, fellow architects & practitioners, & Authors.
For me, DOES is like re-charging my DevOps interest, enthusiasm, helping me more to be better and inspiring me to contribute more to my work and broader DevOps community.
Highlights
As a technical person, I thought initially DOES provide me with technical insights, but I am happy to admit that I am wrong. I started seeing these DevOps transformational stories beyond the technical capabilities of the organization & helping you to understand the value & impact on the end-users, customers, developers, operations, productivity, burnouts and some inspiring talks on leadership, digital transformations and innovation.
- Discovering Your Way to Greatness: How Finding and Fixing Faults is the Path to Perfection — Dr Steven J. Spear
- Understanding Job Burnout — Dr Christina Maslach
- Digital Transformation: Thriving Through the Transition — Jeffrey Snover, Microsoft
- CEO/CFO Fireside Chat: Chris O’Malley & Joe Aho of Compuware
Closing Thoughts
Gene Kim wrote an excellent post “Love Letter To Conferences”, describing what makes some truly amazing conferences. In this post, I have shared why I love DevOps Enterprise Summit.
Conferences that provide exceptional learning and engaging experiences — makes a significant impact on you, your thinking, and why not sometimes on your career. Of course, everyone’s experience is different, what we learn, how much we learn and so on. I try to get most out of my conference, I plan, select the sessions that I want to attend, studiously make some notes, connect with people, stand in the queue to collect signed book copies. I continue to make the conversation even after the conference with many.
Over the last few years, DevOps Enterprise Summit had a significant influence on me and my learning experiences. It helped me to learn things outside of my role title, technical skills and taken me to a different zone to accelerate my DevOps journey by connecting the dots. I continue to learn, contribute, share.
Let me end my post with a line from Jeffery Snover’s presentation, DOES 2018 that influenced me so much:
Do You Want To Be Relevant?
While your work is valuable, are you the person moving your organization forward?
I am attending my next DevOps Enterprise Summit, London — three days of packed learning starting Tuesday 23rd June. Register here & join me.
Thank you
Twitter: @lbmkrishna
DevOps Enthusiast.
