DevOps Enterprise Summit (DOES) London is only days away. I am super excited to participate and share my book - DevOps for the Modern Enterprise - with the conference. This conference holds a special place in my schedule as it brings so many industry thought leaders together. Let me share with you how to make this year’s DOES your best one yet.
First – just like for any good project – define what success means for you. For me, each talk should provide one new thought and one new action that I want to take away. That’s success for me. If the speaker also made me smile at least once, then I found a great talk.
With this in mind, pick your topics carefully; don’t just go to the things you are familiar with and are passionate about. DOES has so many choices that you can, and should, explore new topics – never dabbled with security in open source then attend the session with Nick Wadge, always wondered whether the Mainframe still has relevance, then attend a session with Rosalind Radcliffe for example.
In my book I talk about the importance of changing your mental model, and attending talks that are in your own echo chamber, only solidify the mental model you already have. Going to sessions outside of your core interest areas will allow you to broaden your horizon. Aim for a good mix of sessions that you are excited about and sessions that are a bit of a gamble. I am sure you will find inspiration in those too.
Another success criteria for me at conferences is to connect with new people and strengthen existing relationships. Conference talks by their nature are rehearsed and somewhat polished versions of reality. If you are like me then you want to hear and learn from the mistakes others have already made and compare notes. Make sure when attending the conference, you speak to people about their journey. The DevOps community is somewhat special – we love to share experiences and are not shy to show our scars from mistakes we made. For example, I wrote my book so that people don’t have to repeat the mistakes I have made. I continue to learn from my projects and the work with my clients and will bring some new experiences as well as material from my book to my talk “What Got Us Here Won’t Get Us There – A Story of Transformations”. I hope to see many of you at the conference and at my talk.
Heading to the DevOps Enterprise Summit, London on Monday 25th June? Sonatype is hosting a book signing with Mirco Hering for the “DevOps for the Modern Enterprise” book. Reserve your free copy here, before they run out.