Vegas Here We Come!
The DevOps Enterprise Summit (DOES) 2018 is about 5 days away. We at Liatrio have been doing a lot of DevOps Enterprise Summit 2018 planning, and we’re getting ready to show up in full force with our consultants who lead our clients on their DevOps Transformation journeys. Members of our team have attended every U.S.-based DOES, this year and 10 members of our team are going!
This year, DOES has moved from San Francisco to Las Vegas. To be honest, we’re not thrilled about this move, as Vegas conferences tend to attract a lot of people looking for a Vegas trip on the company dime. Vegas conferences also tend to draw people who attend fewer sessions and worry more about the nightlife than the daytime networking and education. These are the kinds of things that can take away from the purity of the DevOps movement. That said, DOES is the premier conference in our space and, as always, we’re looking forward to getting the most out of it.
You can read more about DevOps Enterprise Summit 2018 planning in this interview with Liatrio’s Chris Blackburn and Ravi Kalaga. We’ve also included some highlights for you to consider below.
Planning and Highlights
At DOES 2018, speakers from diverse industries will discuss how they are building DevOps and continuous delivery into their organizations. Attendees will include more than 2,000 technology and business leaders from more than 500 organizations from around the world.
As part of our DevOps Enterprise Summit 2018 planning, the Liatrio team is focusing on the following areas and talks:
- DevOps Dojo: The theme around Dojo has been huge this year. The DevOps Dojo was originally brought to light by Ross Clanton and Heather Mickman at Target and has since been integrated into many enterprise transformations. At Liatrio, our Dojo plays a huge part in the Delivery Acceleration journey for our customers. We are excited to hear Delta Airlines, Capital One, and DXC Technology talk about their own Dojo experiences.
- SRE: Site Reliability Engineering as a role has taken off in the last year. Our concern is that enterprises are rebranding existing roles and assuming this rebrand is going to solve existing problems. Ernest Mueller talks about some of these concerns. At DOES, we are excited to hear what Google, AdvancedMD, and others have to say on the subject.
- Security: Security is one of the biggest struggles when rolling out automation and DevOps practices for our customers. I’m not just talking about AppSec security but about such things as allowing individual engineers to run Docker on their laptops and connect to sites like Github and StackOverflow. One of the biggest problems we have seen (and one of the most frustrating) is the use of persistent chat systems like Slack. We look forward to discussing ideas and strategies with enterprises on the best ways to address these challenges.
- Agile at Scale: We have been less than impressed with what we have experienced with enterprises that believe they’ve implemented “successful Agile transformations,” especially SAFe and other scaled approaches. Many enterprise leaders are frustrated because they are not getting the technical uplift, pipelines, and other benefits they expected from their Agile investments. We find that teams may understand ceremonies and terminology but are not equipped to deliver value to customers any faster. We are interested in seeing what industry experts have to say on scaling Agile and DevOps across large enterprises.
- Tying It All Together at Scale: Likely the biggest conversation topic for us is talking with customers that have truly pulled off a DevOps transformation at scale. We find that most companies have made improvements in pockets, but that does not necessarily equate to a transformation. Liatrio has been refining our own internal framework based on numerous customer engagements. This framework is more of an evolution than a transformation. (Come find us at DOES to talk more about our Ignite Enterprise Delivery Acceleration Framework.)
Planning and Strategies
With 10 members of our team attending DOES this year, we have some DOES 2018 strategies to share to help your team make the most of DOES:
- Plan out your schedule: there are a ton of talks, and it’s important to map out a schedule of the talks and people you want to hear.
- Divide and conquer: Split up the talks if you’re attending with other members of your team.
- Be prepared to interact, not only with the speakers but also with other attendees.
- Remember the “Law of Two Feet”: if a talk is not benefiting you, head directly to another one. Make the most of your time.
- Introduce yourself on the conference Slack.
- Attend the lean coffee or fireside chats sessions. These sessions are facilitated by the DOES speakers and provide an opportunity for in-depth discussions. Come to the sessions with topics in hand and be ready to engage. The Lean Coffee sessions will be held on Monday and Tuesday at 3:15, while the Fireside Chat will be held on Wednesday at 10:10AM.
Liatrio DOES Game Plan
Liatrio is invested in its people, its clients, and in the continual education and discussions that foster smart growth and change in enterprise organizations. This year, we are taking the opportunity at DOES to also hold our consulting practice offsite meeting, where we’ll plan our 2019 strategy and game plan. We are looking forward to strengthening our alignment as a team as we continue to expand and grow our practice across many clients.
Members of our team are available and welcome the opportunity to meet up on the following days:
- Monday – lunch and evening
- Tuesday – lunch and evening
- Wednesday – lunch
Keep an eye on the Liatrio Twitter (@Liatrio) for updates about what we are up to. Please reach out!
At DOES, we’re looking forward to taking advantage of opportunities to share thought leadership and learn from our peers. We’re equally excited about connecting with our fellow DOES attendees who are interested in talking about enterprise transformation.
We hope you found these DevOps Enterprise Summit 2018 planning tips helpful, and we hope to see you at DOES!
