The Rings of Software: DevOps, SRE and Platform Engineering - DevOps Unbound EP 37

In this episode, hosts Alan Shimel and Mitch Ashley are joined by experts Martin Klaus (Tricentis), Tracy Ragan (DeployHub) and Hope Lynch as we dive into the critical topic of AI Governance—the guardrails that ensure artificial intelligence tools and systems remain safe, ethical, and aligned with human rights. We’ll explore the frameworks, rules, and standards shaping AI research, development, and application, emphasizing why these guardrails are essential for safeguarding fairness, transparency, and accountability. As global attention grows, we’ll also discuss the increasing regulation of AI, including the landmark EU AI Act, which aims to set comprehensive standards for AI deployment and risk management. Additionally, we’ll explore best practices for using AI ethically in software development, testing, and AI models—ensuring that AI is integrated responsibly within DevOps and software practices. Most importantly, we’ll examine how strong AI governance and ethical practices are key to building and maintaining customer trust in AI-powered products and services. Whether you’re an AI enthusiast, a tech leader, or simply curious about the ethical implications of AI, this episode will shed light on how we can build and sustain trust in this rapidly evolving field. Join us as we discuss the future of AI and the role governance plays in ensuring it benefits everyone.

Akamai reports that 83% of traffic on their Akamai network is API hits, which is more than HTML traffic. Our discussion focuses on the API First strategy, which places API design and planning at the forefront of project development, enhancing collaboration, scalability and integration. Hosts Alan Shimel and Mitch Ashley are joined by experts Chris Colosimo (Tricentis), Tracy Ragan (DeployHub) and Chris Lindsey (Mend) to explore how this approach streamlines the development process and enriches end-user experiences. Testing APIs is challenging primarily due to their complex interactions with various software components and external systems, leading to unpredictable behaviors and edge cases. They also discuss how to ensure comprehensive coverage, including security, performance and error handling in a constantly evolving environment, which requires meticulous planning and robust testing frameworks. Lastly, the conversation shifts to the critical importance of API Security (APISec), examining the security measures necessary to protect APIs from emerging threats. Through authentication, authorization, encryption and threat detection techniques, our panelists will illuminate how to safeguard valuable data and systems in our interconnected digital ecosystem.

During this special KubeCon + CloudNativeCon Europe 2023 edition of DevOps Unbound , Alan Shimel and Mitch Ashley are joined by Martin Klaus, Tricentis VP Product Marketing. The trio discuss the progress software testing has made during the rise and adoption of DevOps and cloud native. Adapting to increased delivery velocity and modern cloud native software architecture are but a few of the strengths testing teams continue to build up along with testing AI/ML and generative AI within applications.

Day Two DevOps is a phase in the SDLC that focuses on enhancing, optimizing and continuously improving the software development and deployment processes to ensure increased efficiency, reliability and collaboration between development and operations teams.  In this episode hosts Alan Shimel and Mitch Ashley are joined by Ana-Margarita Medina (Lightstep), Bryan Cole (Tricentis), Adriana Villela (Lightstep) and Larry Maccherone (Contrast Security) for part six of the DevOps Building Blocks series. The panel explores how incorporating Day Two DevOps practices, including observability, testing and SRE, can significantly enhance your SDLC. We discuss the strategies and tools that empower DevOps teams to effectively manage and continuously improve application performance, reliability and overall operational excellence.

The DevOps process flow is about combining speed and agility with reliability and security to deliver the highest quality possible. But, what do you need to do to get it right? And what are the stages of the DevOps process flow? In part five of this series, hosts Alan Shimel and Mitch Ashley are joined by Bryan Cole (Tricentis), Ixchel Ruiz (Karakun AG) and Jeff Keyes (Planview) as we focus on the DevOps flow, continuous improvement and how to fit all the pieces together. We discuss the crucial components of the DevOps process flow, how to quickly identify and remediate bottlenecks and how to embrace collaboration and communication across DevOps teams.

Many organizations still make the mistake of treating security as an afterthought instead of considering it a top priority from the start, which can lead to breaches and major losses for their business. By adopting a DevSecOps approach throughout the SDLC, including Ops, to identify and address potential risks promptly. In part 4 of this series, hosts Alan Shimel and Mitch Ashley are joined by Andi Mann (Sageable), Tracy Bannon (Mitre) and Kshitij Nigam (Tricentis) to discuss how to adopt a DevSecOps model and promote a security culture within an organization, so that security becomes a shared responsibility. We talk about shifting right and the essential strategies and best practices to bridge the gap between development, security and operations.

Many organizations still make the mistake of treating security as an afterthought instead of considering it a top priority from the start, which can lead to breaches and major losses for their business. By adopting a DevSecOps approach, security is integrated early in the SDLC to identify and address potential risks promptly. In part 3 of this series, hosts Alan Shimel and Mitch Ashley are joined by Andi Mann (Sageable), Shannon Leitz (ThirdScore) and Tracy Bannon (Mitre) as we discuss how to adopt the "Sec" in the DevSecOps model and promote a security culture within an organization so that security becomes a shared responsibility. We talk about shifting left and the essential strategies and best practices to bridge the gap between development, security and operations.

Automation is critical to DevOps success. Test automation accelerates and simplifies the software development process, empowering DevOps teams to deliver high-quality, secure and reliable products to market faster without sacrificing crucial debugging and troubleshooting processes. Automated testing minimizes the chance of human error, removes redundancy and increases collaboration between DevOps and QA teams. On the other hand, over-automating can also be counterproductive. So how much test automation is too much? How do you find a balance? And what tools should you use? Join host Mitch Ashley and a panel of distinguished DevOps and QA leaders Tracy Ragan (DeployHub), Martin Klaus (Tricentis) and Raju Chavan (T-mobile) to discuss: - How automated testing empowers DevOps teams - How to incorporate automated and continuous testing into your DevOps workflow - How to scale automated testing - How to choose the right tools to make test automation smooth and easy

Automation is the key to DevOps success, and CI/CD is the driving force behind it. The CI/CD pipeline is a series of automated workflows that help DevOps teams reduce manual tasks, achieve faster feedback, identify and fix issues early in the SDLC and improve the quality of software. However, keeping up with the latest CI/CD best practices and tools can be challenging. In this episode, hosts Alan Shimel and Mitch Ashley are joined by Bryan Cole (Tricentis), Adam Arakelian (Dell), Jacqueline Porter (GitLab) and Ravi Lachhman (Harness). This panel of DevOps leaders breaks down everything you need to know about CI/CD workflows to help you get started with your DevOps implementation. Our experts define CI and CD, share tips and tricks for building a CI/CD pipeline from scratch and discuss the best practices and key metrics to measure the success of your CI/CD pipeline.

What does the rise of platform engineering bring to the table for DevOps and SRE? Or is it simply the next evolutionary step of DevOps? Despite some confusion about mission and responsibility, there are key differences between these roles, and there's a need for all three across the SDLC. Platform engineers, SREs and DevOps teams have shared goals and methodologies, and they all play a role in optimizing the software creation and delivery process. Host Mitch Ashley is joined by our panel of experts: Tim Banks (Dell), Adrianna Villela (Lightstep), Bryan Cole (Tricentis) and Taylor Pechacek (Atlassian) as they explore the differences between DevOps, platform engineering and SRE, the most common misconceptions and how to mitigate them and how platform engineering enables DevOps at scale.