Marc Hornbeek
Marc Hornbeek, a.k.a., DevOps-the-Gray, is Senior DevOps Advisor for The DevOps Institute, CEO and Principal Consultant at Engineering DevOps.com, Founder of Intelligent-Institute.com, Author of books Engineering DevOps, Continuous Testing, Quality, Security, and Feedback, Intelligent Continuous Security, Engineering Respect and Trust, and Simulation-Driven Software Engineering. Advisor, ambassador, author and instructor for PeopleCert - The DevOps Institute. Blogger on DevOps, CloudNativeNow, SecurityBoulevard, and Platform Engineering and LinkedIn websites. Marc is a globally recognized strategic consultant who applies disciplined engineering practices, holistically, for Continuous Testing, DevOps, DevSecOps and SRE digital transformations. Marc has led more than 95 transformations for enterprises, manufacturers, service providers and government institutions. He is an IEEE Outstanding Engineer, and an IEEE Life member. His education includes engineering and executive business degrees and numerous DevOps, DevSecOps and SRE certifications.
Sessions
DevOps has made pipelines fast, automated, and highly reliable. We deploy more frequently than ever before. Yet systems still fail in production, not because we cannot deliver quickly, but because we often build the wrong behavior.
Spec-first approaches, user stories, and even modern testing practices validate assumptions too late. By the time gaps, edge cases, and unintended interactions are discovered, teams are already deep into rework, defect cycles, and operational risk.
This talk introduces Simulation-Driven Software Engineering (SDSE) as the next step beyond spec-first thinking. Instead of relying on static requirements, SDSE enables teams to create executable behavioral simulations before code exists. These simulations model real-world conditions, including failures, timing, and complex interactions across systems.
Drawing on real-world experience, this session shows how simulation can expose hidden assumptions early, align stakeholders on actual system behavior, and dramatically reduce defects and rework.
The goal is not to slow down DevOps, but to enhance it.
Because a fast pipeline only delivers value when it delivers the right system.
AI can now generate more software change in minutes than many organizations can safely validate, secure, govern, and operate in days. The question is no longer whether teams can move faster. It is whether they can turn that speed into trustworthy outcomes.
DevOps began as a grassroots response to disconnected teams, slow releases, fragile production, and delayed feedback. It became a widely adopted practice and an essential enterprise capability. In the AI-native era, it must take its next step: DevOps must mature into a profession.
This forward-looking talk explores why AI makes DevOps more important—not less. Marc Hornbeek examines how people, practices, platforms, pipelines, governance, measurement, and continuous learning must work together as an organization-wide system for value delivery. He will show how platform engineering can reduce cognitive load, how pipelines must validate both human- and AI-generated work, and why shared language, learning paths, maturity models, and professional standards are now essential.
DevOps began as a movement. It became a practice. Now it must become a profession.