Roundtables
Ready for Anything: What it Really Takes
What does it actually mean to be “ready”? Ready for tax season. Ready for an org-wide migration. Ready for a big launch—or for something to go completely sideways.
In this open discussion, we’ll talk through the moments that test engineering orgs and what it takes to be confident when they hit.
Making Operational Excellence measureable (and actionable)
How do you turn operational goals into day-to-day habits across engineering teams? In this roundtable, we’ll explore how leading teams are using scorecards to define, track, and drive excellence across reliability, AI governance, and operational maturity. We’ll discuss real-world examples of what works (and what doesn’t) when it comes to setting standards, getting buy-in, and keeping teams aligned—without slowing them down. Bring your questions, ideas, and war stories.

Deploy with Confidence: Using Scorecards and Initiatives to Gate Releases
How do you ensure only production-ready services ship?
In this roundtable, we’ll explore how teams use Scorecards—powered by data from tools like SonarQube, Datadog, and more—to block deploys that don’t meet production readiness standards. We’ll also discuss how Initiatives turn these insights into clear, time-bound goals that drive lasting improvements. Join to hear what’s worked (and what hasn’t) from peers focused on safer, more predictable releases.

Turning IDPs into Engines of Accountability and Excellence
Internal Developer Portals aren’t just developer tools—they’re powerful engines for engineering excellence across DevEx, SRE, Security, and Platform.
In this roundtable, we’ll explore how teams are using their IDP to move beyond golden-path theory and put real standards into practice: enforcing service maturity, embedding scorecards into workflows, automating common tasks, and blocking deploys that don’t meet the bar.
Come ready to share what’s working, what’s not, and how your team is turning your IDP into something developers actually use—and engineering leaders actually trust.

Security is Everyone's Job: How to Make that True
Security goals often break down between intention and execution — especially when responsibilities are spread across teams. In this roundtable, we’ll explore how engineering organizations are using Cortex to bring clarity, accountability, and action to security standards. From assigning ownership to surfacing real-time gaps in posture, we’ll look at how to move beyond spreadsheets and audits toward a model where security becomes part of everyday engineering. Expect insights on what actually works, where teams get stuck, and how to drive lasting improvements — without slowing developers down.

Treat Your Developer Platform like a Product
Building an internal platform is one thing—getting teams to love, use, and champion it is another. In this roundtable, we’ll explore what it really means to treat your platform like a product.
We’ll dig into how teams are applying product thinking to their IDP: running user research, building feedback loops, aligning with stakeholders, and defining success beyond just “it exists.”
Whether you’re building from scratch or scaling what you’ve got, this is the space to swap stories, challenges, and ideas for building platforms your developers actually want to use.

You built the dashboards. Now what?
In a world where every engineering & platform team has dashboards, reporting alone doesn’t drive impact. This roundtable will explore how engineering and platform leaders can use real-time metrics—like initiative completion, regional resilience, and maturity tracking—to influence outcomes, prove value, and avoid dashboard fatigue. Join us to share how your team is using (or struggling to use) metrics to drive change.

Move Fast, Ship Smart: Boosting Engineering Velocity
Too often, efforts to move faster result in missed standards, developer burnout, or tech debt. But it doesn’t have to be that way. In this session, we’ll explore how platform teams are using Cortex to streamline service delivery, standardize best practices, and save thousands of engineering hours—without sacrificing quality. From automating service scaffolding to embedding production readiness into workflows, you’ll hear real-world strategies that accelerate delivery without adding risk or overhead.

Measuring What Matters: Communicating IDP Impact
An IDP is only as valuable as your ability to measure and communicate its impact. In this session, we’ll swap strategies on how teams are tracking the success of their IDPs — adoption, golden path usage, onboarding time, engineering velocity, and more. We’ll also talk about the dashboards, metrics, and storytelling tactics that help platform teams connect their work to real outcomes and keep stakeholders aligned
