DevOps Enterprise Summit Puts Agile Transformation Front and Center

What a great week we had at the DevOps Enterprise Summit!
The conference was completely sold out, and it was standing room only most of the time. We had many excellent examples of enterprises applying DevOps practices in the real-world, from the likes of Disney, GE and Nordstrom – just to name a few. We also had the opportunity to break out into different track sessions by vertical market and technology focus, a great way to connect and network with like-minded peers. There were many astounding ideas shared, and though the tools and process-driven approaches to DevOps were key highlights, it was clear an equally important success factor is how we break down functional silos for collaborative development and IT operations.
Above all, there was one common thread woven into the fabric of all the ideas shared at DOES14; DevOps is a transformational journey shared by people. It takes tools, time, patience, effort, collaboration and a relentless commitment to the core values and goals of becoming agile. Each step of the process is as important as the last and failure is permissible when it leads to innovation. Enterprise DevOps takes a shared vision, extensive teamwork and a strong community buy-in across an entire organization to reach new heights never thought possible. Embracing the journey together and continuing to learn from one another will only set the bar higher. Let’s continue to push the bounds together!
Conference Recaps:
Check out the keynote videos and some of the breakout sessions here .
The excitement and content at the Summit all caught the attention of many, including the trade press and bloggers. Here are some links to what was written around the conference and those who blogged about their experiences:

• SD Times: http://sdtimes.com/devops-enterprise-summit-bashes-silos/

• DevOps.com: http://devops.com/features/ges-big-agile-bet/

• InfoWorld: http://www.infoworld.com/article/2837893/devops/devops-agile-development-cut-through-federal-agencys-red-tape.html

• Conference Notes by Byron Miller: http://byronm.wordpress.com/2014/10/24/does14-conference-notes/

• Event Observations from StackStorm: http://stackstorm.com/2014/10/24/event-observations-devops-enterprise-bank-america-merrill-lynch-technology-innovation-summit/

• Developer Blog on RedHat: http://developerblog.redhat.com/2014/10/22/devops-enterprise-conference-day-one/

• Not a Factory Anymore – Impressions from DevOps Enterprise Summit: http://notafactoryanymore.com/2014/10/24/impressions-from-the-devops-enterprise-summit-2014/

• Devx.com: http://www.devx.com/DailyNews/devops-conference-offers-advice-from-the-trenches.html

• BrandenWilliams.com: https://www.brandenwilliams.com/blog/2014/10/23/there-are-no-unicorns/

• Developer.IBM.com: https://developer.ibm.com/urbancode/2014/10/28/devops-killing-types-jobs/

• Richard Whitehead Blog: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/article/20141027215306-67524-how-i-learned-to-stop-worrying-and-love-the-silo?trk=prof-post

• Jeff Gallimore Blog: http://itsanicelife.com/2014/10/29/devops-enterprise-summit-2014-debrief/

• Adrian Cockcroft Blog: http://www.battery.com/powered/the-whole-stack/2014/10/24/devops-isnt-just-for-unicorns-a-recap-of-the-devops-enterprise-conference/

Furthermore, we can’t begin to tell you how pleased we were for the quality of information being shared each day of the event. While we can’t do it justice, here is a list of some of the top quotes we gathered from DOES14:

• “DevOps helps make our lives humane and win in the marketplace.” Gene Kim

• “You've got to pick technology that transforms. You need to find tools that change the way you think.” Jason Cox from Disney

• “Create a safety zone for your team and allow them to fail and learn from those mistakes.” Heather Mickman, Target.

• “To maximize speed of innovation, you need to decentralize innovation." Roy Rapoport, Netflix

• “Time is the new currency.” Carmen DeArdo, Nationwide

• "Be the automator, not the automated." Glenn O’Donnell, Forrester Research

• “DevOps will revolutionize all tech, across all businesses, across all industries." Nicole Forsgren, Utah State

• “I think DevOps gives us the potential to take FISMA regulations to the next level.” Mark Schwartz, USCIS

• “DevOps does not equal one size fits all.” Topo Pal, Capital One

• “Change agents are really important, but undervalued. Feed & care for those people in your organization.” Terri Potts, Raytheon

We also think it’s worth summarizing the experiences of attendees at DOES14. We were so thankful and excited to hear such resounding encouragement and support from the people we shared our time with at the event. For example, Glenn O’Donnell (VP, Research Director at Forrester), began his speech proclaiming that “This might be the best conference I’ve ever been to” and “We'll look back on this event and say I was there in the beginning.” If you can boil down your thoughts about the experiences into one or two sentences, we encourage you to share them on social media with #DOES14.
Speaking of social media… let’s keep the conversations going!
We Were All Very Social
We also were pleased that the inaugural DevOps Enterprise Summit had extremely strong social media activity. Not only did we have a sellout crowd with more than 600 attendees, but there were nearly 8,000 total tweets from more than 1,180 contributors that used the event hashtag (#DOES14) during the three-day event. That’s more than 2,600 tweets per day and we were close to surpassing 2 million total impressions over the course of the Summit! Thanks to everyone for chiming in, sharing your photos and experiences and generating such wonderful buzz around the event program this year.
Keep an eye on the event hashtag going forward for updates, feedback and answers to your questions. We also plan to hold a CrowdChat (https://www.crowdchat.net/tag/23does14 ) with John Furrier from SiliconAngle in the coming weeks to recap the major takeaways, share insights and to gather information as we start planning for DOES15!
THANK YOU!
Cheers to everyone who attended the first DevOps Enterprise Summit! We appreciate the great response we’ve received and hope that the learnings and sharing that went on during the past week will continue long into the coming months and years. All of the content from the show is being made available online via YouTube and Slideshare. We have also sent out a survey with IT Revolution to garner more feedback and see how we can do our own “Continuous Improvement” to make next year’s Summit even better!
Again, thank you for making this a phenomenal event!