As I am sitting at Schipol Airport, contemplating that the airport is so big it has a branch of the Rijksmuseum, I can’t help but thinking about the fabulous conference I’ve just been to. The DevOps Enterprise Summit 2023 has exceeded my expectations. But before I get to there, I’d just like to develop the airport metaphor a little bit. So here I am, looking at culture. Why was it that at Schipol, one of the busiest airports in the world, it was a breeze to get through security, airport security agents were smiling, cracking jokes, I could leave my laptop, toothpaste and deodorant in the bag and they have art in the middle of the airport, goddammit.

As I am sitting on the 16th floor of the Okura Hotel in Amsterdam in my Batman pyjamas and facing a large mirror, just glimpsing the paper crane that was so lovingly put on my pillow, I’m starting to reflect what has happened during the day. I was lucky enough to be a guest at the DevOps Enterprise Summit. There was certainly plenty of things to get excited about. I’d meet Gene Kim, who’s been running this conference for 10 years and who wrote the Phoenix Project.

I am sitting on the train as I type this coming back from my first IRL conference. Lean Agile Scotland 2022 was brilliant. I met so many people with ideas that just chime with my thinking on agile, I feel energised and full of ideas No Bugs No Decisions No Deadlines No Fear What follows are some thoughts that I took away from some of sessions the conference. There were lots of exciting talks and workshops and it was a pity that I couldn’t clone myself to go to more of them (I was gutted to miss sessions that coincided with my own talk).