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Cloud Computing

Cloud Superstream: Navigating FinOps

Published by O'Reilly Media, Inc.

Beginner to intermediate content levelBeginner to intermediate

Building more cost-conscious systems for long-term efficiency and success

Nobody wants a surprise on their monthly cloud bill—or even worse—to be the cause of one. For DevOps teams and engineers building high-performing, cloud native applications at speed, adding cost management to the list of growing responsibilities can seem daunting. But with tightening budgets and increasingly complex IT landscapes, a strong FinOps practice that promotes accountability and cost-aware decision-making is essential to the health of any organization.

Join leading FinOps practitioners in this series of talks to gain insights, tips, and tricks on how technology, operations, and finance teams can work together to effectively monitor, report, and allocate cloud costs—and build systems for long-term efficiency and success.

About the Cloud Superstream Series: The cloud is constantly changing. New tools and services are introduced at a dizzying pace, while the roles, models, and frameworks continue to shift and expand. The Cloud Superstream Series keeps you up to speed on the most disruptive trends and pressing issues shaping the industry today.

What you’ll learn and how you can apply it

  • Strategies for identifying and troubleshooting cost anomalies
  • Common challenges with implementing FinOps practices and how to prepare for them
  • How to communicate more effectively in a FinOps organization and promote a culture of cross-collaboration

This live event is for you because...

  • You’re a cloud engineer, DevOps engineer, or solutions architect who wants to build more cost-effective software solutions.
  • You’re in a role responsible for spinning up cloud resources or you’re taking part in a FinOps program at your organization and want to help optimize cloud use.
  • You’re a team lead, program manager, or financial decision maker who wants to stay up-to-date on FinOps and cloud optimization trends.

Prerequisites

  • Come with your questions
  • Have a pen and paper handy to capture notes, insights, and inspiration

Recommended follow-up:

Schedule

The time frames are only estimates and may vary according to how the class is progressing.

Katie Gamanji: Introduction (5 minutes) - 8:00am PT | 11:00am ET | 3:00pm UTC/GMT

  • Katie welcomes you to the Cloud Superstream.

Amy Ashby: Investigating Cost Trends and Anomalies (45 minutes) - 8:05am PT | 11:05am ET | 3:05pm UTC/GMT

  • There are both cloud native and third-party tools in the landscape that will detect and alert on cost anomalies. But what happens next? Amy Ashby explores various strategies for troubleshooting and finding root causes of anomalies and discusses activities or billing methods that might be creating them. She examines the technical side of investigation but also touches on building relationships and how to leverage them as another source of data.
  • Amy Ashby has worked in IT for more than 20 years, holding various technical roles in data center operations, systems/infrastructure engineering, DevOps/SRE, and now FinOps. She’s passionate about problem-solving and troubleshooting, analyzing data, and translating data into easy-to-understand, actionable insights that make an impact. She’s a Certified FinOps Professional, an ambassador and active volunteer member of the FinOps Foundation, and a full-time FinOps lead.
  • Break (5 minutes)

Sebastian Kister: Don't Fight the Silos! Enabling FinOps and Digital Transformation Across Teams (45 minutes) - 8:55am PT | 11:55am ET | 3:55pm UTC/GMT

  • Enterprise cloud native transformation is challenging. There are many moving parts— people, processes, and technologies—that must come together for the successful adoption of new practices like FinOps. Putting people at the center of these organizational transformations is key. Sebastian Kister shares an inspirational, people-first approach and an infrastructure-up blueprint for creating transformational forces within your company.
  • Sebastian Kister leads a competence center for containerization and Kubernetes at Audi and is an award-winning global thought leader for enterprise transformation and working in UG and TOCs at CNCF. A startup professional who has helped to shape products from genesis to market leader, he’s always innovating and questioning the status quo, helping to break dogmas and implement a new culture.
  • Break (5 minutes)

Deana Solis: Humanizing FinOps—Learning to Collaborate by Unlearning Antipatterns (45 minutes) - 9:45am PT | 12:45pm ET | 4:45pm UTC/GMT

  • Collaboration is a core principle in the practice of FinOps, and it often requires a willingness to have uncomfortable conversations. As an introvert, Deana Solis has always preferred to let data speak for itself. But as a cloud practitioner who believes in empowering teams, she learned to use her voice for others and call out the biases that block trust and diminish collaboration.
  • Deana Solis draws from decades of infrastructure management experience in data centers and cloud to mentor folks from underrepresented backgrounds in technology. She is the youngest daughter of Filipino immigrants and the mom of a biracial son. Deana and her partner love to cook together and paddle-board on the Columbia River near their home in Vancouver, Washington.
  • Break (5 minutes)

Dieter Matzion: Overcoming Cloud FinOps Challenges (45 minutes) - 10:35am PT | 1:35pm ET | 5:35pm UTC/GMT

  • Dieter Matzion explores ways to overcome challenges in cloud FinOps, stressing the importance of continuous improvement in cloud financial management for efficiency and cost savings. He offers insights into customizing solutions for various organizational needs and discusses strategies for empowering engineers to take action, achieving unit economics, fostering organizational adoption, reducing waste, implementing governance at scale, and ensuring leadership buy-in. He also shares techniques for optimizing cloud spending, automating processes, and calculating accurate spend forecasts.
  • Dieter Matzion is a member of Roku's cloud technology and infrastructure team, supporting cloud FinOps across AWS, GCP, and Azure. Most recently, Dieter was part of Intuit's technology finance team, where he supported the AWS cost optimization program. Dieter has also worked at Netflix and Google. During his time at Google, he developed demand-planning models and automation tools for capacity management. Originally from Germany, Dieter holds a master’s degree in computer science. Outside of work, he prioritizes spending time with his family and enjoying outdoor activities such as hiking, camping, horseback riding, and cave exploration.

Katie Gamanji: Closing Remarks (5 minutes) - 11:20am PT | 2:20pm ET | 6:20pm UTC/GMT

  • Katie closes out today’s event.

Your Hosts and Selected Speakers

  • Katie Gamanji

    Katie Gamanji is a cloud native leader, practitioner, and contributor who works in a senior field engineer role and is a member of the Technical Oversight Committee for the Cloud Native Computing Foundation (CNCF). She also serves in a leadership role at OpenUK. As a cloud platform engineer, she has contributed to infrastructure buildouts at Condé Nast and American Express, gravitating towards cloud native technologies, principles, and Kubernetes as the focal point. Recently, she released a course on cloud native fundamentals and led the creation of the CNCF Kubernetes and Cloud Native Associate (KCNA) certification. Katie is an active keynote speaker, a #WITAwards and #TechWomen100 winner, and a strong advocate for women in STEM.

  • Dieter Matzion

    Dieter Matzion is a member of Roku's cloud technology and infrastructure team, supporting cloud FinOps across AWS, GCP, and Azure. Most recently, Dieter was part of Intuit's technology finance team, where he supported the AWS cost optimization program. Dieter has also worked at Netflix and Google. During his time at Google, he developed demand-planning models and automation tools for capacity management. Originally from Germany, Dieter holds a master’s degree in computer science. Outside of work, he prioritizes spending time with his family and enjoying outdoor activities such as hiking, camping, horseback riding, and cave exploration.

  • Sebastian Kister

    Sebastian Kister leads a competence center for containerization and Kubernetes at Audi and is an award-winning global thought leader for enterprise transformation and working in UG and TOCs at CNCF. A startup professional who has helped to shape products from genesis to market leader, he’s always innovating and questioning the status quo, helping to break dogmas and implement a new culture.

  • Amy Ashby

    Amy Ashby has worked in IT for more than 20 years, holding various technical roles in data center operations, systems/infrastructure engineering, DevOps/SRE, and now FinOps. She’s passionate about problem-solving and troubleshooting, analyzing data, and translating data into easy-to-understand, actionable insights that make an impact. She’s a Certified FinOps Professional, an ambassador and active volunteer member of the FinOps Foundation, and a full-time FinOps lead.

  • Deana Solis

    Deana Solis draws from decades of infrastructure management experience in data centers and cloud to mentor folks from underrepresented backgrounds in technology. She is the youngest daughter of Filipino immigrants and the mom of a biracial son. Deana and her partner love to cook together and paddle-board on the Columbia River near their home in Vancouver, Washington.