The DevOps Enterprise Summit 2019 in London has come to end and what a week it’s been! We at XebiaLabs always look forward to these DOES events as they bring together the DevOps community and provide a safe space to openly discuss the common challenges and setbacks and learn from each other how to overcome them.

This year was no exception. Gene Kim and the IT Revolution team gathered over 1,000 of the industry’s thought leaders and practitioners for a jam-packed three days at the InterContinental London –– The O2.

Here’s a look back at some of the event’s big themes, stellar keynotes, and a little bit of the revelry. 

Spoiler alert! The move to digital isn’t slowing down anytime soon. Many of the presenters gracing the DOES stage discussed the crucial role digital assets play in their business and how they directly contribute to the bottom line. From streaming shows to buying shoes, people are relying on their mobile devices more and more and simply have little patience for slow or buggy apps. If your business isn’t acting as a Software company and continuously innovating, you’ll quickly fall behind.

It’s all about the customers. Effectively delivering value to end users has to be top priority for organizations. And the software delivery process needs to be built around keeping customers happy. As one DOES presenter noted, “if you don’t have a customer, why bother building it?”. Underscoring this was a common theme throughout the event––the need for a tighter alignment between IT and business goals.

To push change and innovate, you must experiment. And if you’re experimenting, you’re probably experiencing some failure. Multiple sessions at DOES focused on the hypotheses that are driving experimenting in software delivery teams and how these tests fared. An important take away––bake failure into the release process so you can fail early and learn from it.

The right tools go a long way. Culture, leadership buy-in, and process are requirements for transforming an organization. However, many sessions also touched on the importance of using the right tools to get the job done. Your technology stack should automate the busy work and empower your team to deliver better software, faster.

Many thanks to Gene Kim, Jeff Gallimore, and the entire IT Revolution team for putting on such an insightful and thought-provoking event! See you in Vegas!

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