DevOps Fireside Chats – March 2021 Review

Jay Gordon

DevOps Fireside Chats is a monthly panel that discusses a different subject every month that’s related to DevOps. Join us April 21, 2021 for a new conversation on Continuous Integration and Delivery. We’ll take questions, have a discussion, and learn about good CI/CD habits. I will be your host along with a panel of experts including Jessica Deen, Austin Parker of Lightstep, and Pierre Donyegro.

When: April 21, 2021 4 PM PT / 7 PM ET
Where: Microsoft LearnTV
How: Submit your questions here for our panel.

Be sure to join us in this event LIVE!


In March, we took a look at Agile development and transformation and how they impact teams.

Damian Brady and Abel Wang joined host Jay Gordon to discuss Agile Development. We take live questions and try to work out some of the tools, processes, and cultural changes associated with adopting an agile mindset. We look at the differentiation in different development management models and how to implement them for your team.

“Everybody has a plan until they get punched in the mouth.” – Mike Tyson

1:42 – Intros
7:00 – Agile Manifesto
8:58 – How do YOU define Agile?
14:57 – What’s the difference between Agile and Scrum?
17:16 – What’s the right size team to implement Agile?
20:40 – How does Agile propel your DevOps movement?
22:56 – How do developers without a lot of experience start implementing Agile?
29:50 – What are the biggest pitfalls in implementing Agile?
31:29 – How will Agile handle the changes presented by the global pandemic.
39:18 – What does the crew here think of the current vitriol and hatred toward “Agile” as if it’s some bane to the industry?
44:36 – What do you recommend to become a good Agile Coach?
47:52 – How do product managers influence your Agile process?
52:11 – What tools can best assist in onboarding a team into Agile?

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What is Agile Development?
Scale Agile to Large Teams
Agile Culture

Biographies of panel: Damian Brady: (@damovisa) Damian is a Cloud Advocate specializing in DevOps and MLOps. After spending a year in Toronto, Canada, he returned to Australia – the land of the dangerous creatures and beautiful beaches – in 2018.

Formerly a dev at Octopus Deploy and a Microsoft MVP, he has a background in software development and consulting in a broad range of industries. In Australia, he co-organised the Brisbane .Net User Group, and launched the now annual DDD Brisbane conference. He regularly speaks at conferences, User Groups, and other events around the world.

Most of the time you’ll find him talking to software engineers, IT pros and managers to help them get the most out of their DevOps strategies.

Damian has his own Channel 9 show – The DevOps Lab. Check it out for real-world guidance on implementing DevOps in your organization!

Abel Wang (@AbelSquidHead): Abel Wang is a Senior Cloud Developer Advocate specializing in DevOps and Azure with a background in application development. Before joining Microsoft, Abel spent seven years as a Process Consultant and a Certified Scrum Master helping customers globally develop solutions using agile practices and Team Foundation Server. Prior to that, Abel founded and sold his own software company. When not working, Abel is either writing code (yes, that’s what he does for fun), playing his guitar or training for The Great Wall Marathon.

Jay Gordon (@jaydestro): Jay Gordon is a Cloud Advocate with the Microsoft Azure Advocates. He and the rest of the Advocacy team are focused on helping Developers and Ops teams get the most out of their cloud experience with Microsoft Azure. Prior to Microsoft, Jay was part of teams at DigitalOcean, BuzzFeed and MongoDB. Community is critical in his core beliefs, this is why Jay is an organizer for devopsdays NYC. Jay lives in Brooklyn, New York with his wife Betsy and a very weird dog named Meadow. Jay runs a weekly stream on LearnTV called AzureFunBytes focusing on Azure fundamentals every Thursday at 11 AM PT / 2 PM ET.

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  • João Paulo Oliveira 0

    I really love to participate in those Fireside chats.
    So much to learn

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