Oops, We Inflicted DevOps on Our Business—Now What?

It seems that everyone is aflutter with DevOps, the shiny new panacea for all of our software ailments. What technical goodness can DevOps bestow upon us? What riddles does it unlock for us as technologists? How do business goals align in order to wring the true value from DevOps?

Delivering value faster is a desire of many business and IT leaders, and it often looks like a win-lose proposition to achieve it. Metrics and edicts seem to have competing interests, like the car racer being told to "go faster" and "save fuel." Allison shares her experiences with organizations and teams embracing DevOps and how it impacted both IT and business. We'll explore the dynamics of goals and the conflict they can incite through an interactive game to dive into what happens when DevOps initiatives succeed—and when they don't.

Join this workshop to discover what it means to align business and IT goals for creating a successful DevOps culture and learn specific practices that team leads and managers can encourage to navigate the organizational dynamics that make or break these transformations.

Getting Real without Getting Fired - Saying Things in a Way People Can Hear

Do you hold back from saying what you really think at work—worried it’ll come across the wrong way or cause trouble? Or do you speak up and find that people get defensive, dismissive, or don’t really listen?

Whether you avoid hard conversations or dive in and get labeled as too blunt, the result is the same: the real issue doesn’t get addressed.

In this session, you'll get a practical way to say what needs saying—so it actually lands. Allison shares tools and examples to help you:

• Get clear on what you’re trying to say

• Stay connected to the person you’re saying it to

• Be curious enough to adjust without backing down

You’ll practice naming something that feels hard to say, in a way someone else can hear it—and do something with it.

It’s Not Enough to Be Right: How Technical Voices Earn Influence

Your brilliant solutions aren’t gaining traction despite your clear explanations and solid reasoning. If you’ve been frustrated when others don’t get on board, you’re not alone. Many technically minded people assume that influence comes from being correct—or from explaining things in just the right way. But in real-world conversations, logic isn’t enough. If your proposal doesn’t connect with what others care about, it often gets ignored or dismissed—and you’re left doing more work for a worse outcome.

In this interactive talk, Allison shares why technically correct proposals often go nowhere and what you can do to change that. You’ll learn how to identify what others actually prioritize, avoid the trap of overexplaining, and use straightforward, practical language that helps your ideas land. Through relatable examples and ready-to-use techniques, Allison shows how to shift your approach so you’re not just right—you’re effective.

Leave with tools you can use right away to make your ideas more compelling—and more likely to move forward.