iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Bryan Ross @bryanross.me · 29/08/2026

I thought it might be useful to breakdown some of the new language that surrounds AI. I've met many people who think they're falling behind, but behind all the buzzwords are much of the traditional SDLC principles. www.chieftherapyofficer.co.uk/p/youre-not-...

chieftherapyofficer.co.uk

You're Not Behind; it’s just vocabulary

A brief translation for those who know DevSecOps

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Bryan Ross @bryanross.me · 28/07/2026

Everyone is building agents, harnesses, and loops. Development is faster than ever. Yet the big, integrated, cross-team work seems to be getting harder, not easier. www.chieftherapyofficer.co.uk/p/were-rebui...

chieftherapyofficer.co.uk

We're rebuilding the DevOps mess, one agent at a time

Autonomy for every team means paralysis for the enterprise

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Bryan Ross @bryanross.me · 03/07/2026

We spent years convincing managers that developer flow was highly important, but now devs running multiple agents and worrying if they're achieving enough while they sleep. What went wrong? www.chieftherapyofficer.co.uk/p/what-ever-...

chieftherapyofficer.co.uk

What ever happened to going with the flow?

Why did we spend a decade protecting developers from distraction?

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Bryan Ross @bryanross.me · 23/06/2026

I still hear people talking about 10x developers ... but where's the 10x value? In this 15 min video for #platformcon26, I share what I've seen work and not work in early adopting orgs. And, embarrassingly , the data didn't lead where I thought it would! www.youtube.com/watch?v=kD3G...

youtube.com

Turning 10x developers into 10x value - Bryan Ross | PlatformCon 2026

The 10x developer is here, but do they deliver 10x value? More code means more testing, more bugs, and more security vulnerabilities. Learn how the UK's biggest companies are using their platforms to…

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Bryan Ross @bryanross.me · 16/06/2026

With all the excitement of Fable being banned, I thought I'd share some of my own experiences of agentic red teaming. We're cooked. We need to change our approach to secure software delivery. open.substack.com/pub/bryanros...

open.substack.com

The Asymmetric War

Are we cooked, chat?

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Bryan Ross @bryanross.me · 29/05/2026

Is anyone else entirely fed up with hearing "You're right to push back — I was wrong . . . " from their agent after an hour or so disappearing down a hallucinated rabbit hole? 🕳️🐇

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Bryan Ross @bryanross.me · 20/05/2026

Are you doing okay? It feels pretty exhausting to work in the IT industry right now, and I think I know why. www.chieftherapyofficer.co.uk/p/the-identi...

chieftherapyofficer.co.uk

The Identity Crisis AI Didn't Warn You About

It feels pretty exhausting to work in the IT industry right now, and I think I know why.

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Bryan Ross @bryanross.me · 28/02/2026

Do you wish teams could agree on a set of central tools and golden path? In this months article, I talk about how I've helped organisations Find common ground before common tools. www.chieftherapyofficer.co.uk/p/find-commo...

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Find common ground, not common tools

A practical guide to aligning teams around common practices and golden paths

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Bryan Ross @bryanross.me · 05/02/2026

After three years of joking about it, the new brand is officially live! chieftherapyofficer.co.uk Join me each month to hear real stories from enterprise IT teams across industries that want to bridge the gap between technology and business value.

chieftherapyofficer.co.uk

Chief Therapy Officer | Bryan Ross | Substack

Bridging the gap between technical and business stakeholders through compelling storytelling and real-world examples. Talks about #kubernetes, #leadership, #appmodernization, #platformengineering,…

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Bryan Ross @bryanross.me · 30/01/2026

"4 hours of usage gone in 3 prompts" ... The AI free lunch is over, and platform teams are about to inherit the bill! The Chief Therapy Officer is back for 2026. newsletter.bryanross.me/p/the-ai-fre...

newsletter.bryanross.me

The AI Free Lunch is Over

Why Platform Teams Need to Prepare for the Cost Reckoning

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Bryan Ross @bryanross.me · 28/10/2025

@sugaroverflow.com has done an awesome job on The Developer Show and I'm thrilled to see @kelseyhightower.com joining TODAY! I want to hear where the industry is heading and what @gitlab.com is doing to bring agentic AI to developers in a more thoughtful way. www.youtube.com/watch?v=cokX...

youtube.com

Interview with Kelsey Hightower and the GitLab 18.5 Release

YouTube video by GitLab

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Bryan Ross @bryanross.me · 25/10/2025

It was awesome to be part of the The Making of Flux documentary to talk about the impact of GitOps, the role CD plays in large organisations, and a glimpse of the future in how AI might change the landscape. www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q69s...

youtube.com

The Making of Flux: The Future, with Bryan Ross, William Rizzo, Shaun O'Meara, and Jane Yan | KubeFM

Join the Flux maintainers and community at FluxCon, November 11th in Atlanta—register here https://ku.bz/L843kg0CK === In this closing episode, Bryan Ross (Field CTO at GitLab), Jane Yan (Principal…

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Bryan Ross @bryanross.me · 24/10/2025

Are you building a Golden Path or a Golden Cage? Platform mandates drive workarounds underground. One size doesn't fit all, but well-designed guardrails with composable platform features can fit everyone. Learn how to go from 17% to 86% adoption in 6 months. newsletter.bryanross.me/p/golden-pat...

newsletter.bryanross.me

Golden Paths: One Size Does Not Fit All

How to build a Golden Path, rather than a Golden Cage

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Bryan Ross @bryanross.me · 16/10/2025

I moved from customer to vendor a few years ago - here's what platform teams can learn from sales when promoting their services internally. newsletter.bryanross.me/p/five-sales...

newsletter.bryanross.me

Five sales techniques that double platform adoption

Why platform engineers should spend 85% of their time talking, not building

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Bryan Ross @bryanross.me · 26/08/2025

This month, as Chief Therapy Officer, I take a look at the hidden cost of offering your platforms for free. I give real world examples of those that hit crisis point and others that saved millions by implementing simple showback mechanisms. newsletter.bryanross.me/p/the-hidden...

newsletter.bryanross.me

The Hidden Cost of "Free" Platform Services

Creating a cost-conscious culture in Platform Engineering

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Bryan Ross @bryanross.me · 13/08/2025

Two weeks. No laptop. No calls. No Slack. Just a sailing boat, the Finnish coastline, the Åland Islands, and Sweden’s archipelago. When we don't step away, we risk making smaller and smaller decisions inside the same narrow headspace. This is your sign to fully unplug for a couple of weeks! ⛵️

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Bryan Ross @bryanross.me · 25/07/2025

Wondering what really comes next in AI? In this article, we look at what past disruptive technologies can teach us about what’s coming next (beyond the hype!) newsletter.bryanross.me/p/ai-disrupt...

newsletter.bryanross.me

AI Disruption Déjà Vu

What The Past Tells Us About the Future of AI

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Bryan Ross @bryanross.me · 22/06/2025

The hard problems in tech aren't technical. My job is about listening, interpreting and translating with curiosity and empathy. This is the monthly topic for the Platforms Community content club, so I'm sharing the story of when this lesson first sunk in. newsletter.bryanross.me/p/the-hard-p...

newsletter.bryanross.me

The Hard Problems in Tech Aren't Technical

What if the Minimum Viable Platform is just Email and Empathy?

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Bryan Ross @bryanross.me · 16/06/2025

Well, looky here! The New Stack were kind enough to publish my article on the importance of product teams over technologies. I'd love to hear what you think! thenewstack.io/accelerating...

thenewstack.io

Accelerating Developer Velocity With Effective Platform Teams

A look at three key considerations for leaders building strong platform teams.

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Reposted by Bryan Ross

🎃HalloDeeny🎃 they/them @geraldinepiche.bsky.social · 29/05/2025

"I asked ChatGPT" well I asked my cat's anus looks like we both did our research

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Bryan Ross @bryanross.me · 26/05/2025

After pecking at this article on trains and planes over the past few weeks, I've finally published my thoughts on the different challenges you face when your platform becomes mature. newsletter.bryanross.me/p/beyond-lau...

newsletter.bryanross.me

Beyond Launch

Platform Engineering's Real Test

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Bryan Ross @bryanross.me · 01/05/2025

Who's going to be joining at the AWS GenAI Security Symposium in a few weeks? 📍Kings Place, London 🗓️ 22nd May 2025 | 9:00 AM - 5:30 PM 👉 Register now! www.aws-partner-events.com/gen-ai-secur...

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Bryan Ross @bryanross.me · 24/04/2025

The most exciting thing about MCP is that we can start talking about ChatOps again! 😍

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Bryan Ross @bryanross.me · 20/04/2025

This. I’ve had enough “once in a generation” events thank you very much.

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Bryan Ross @bryanross.me · 21/03/2025

Is your company guilty of metrics misuse? Have DORA metrics been weaponised to compare the productivity of teams or individuals? Maybe you should send them my latest article about Metrics That Matter! 📈

newsletter.bryanross.me

Metrics That Matter

Beyond DORA: Meaningful Measurement for Platform Teams

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Bryan Ross @bryanross.me · 16/02/2025

My contribution to ✨CNCF Content Club✨ is now live! It's not too late to join in - just publish your own thoughts about Team Topologies in the Real World, leave me a comment, and I'll ask the other contributors to help boost on their social media.

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Team Topologies in the Real World

This month, some fellow CNCF working group colleagues will be sharing their thoughts on the topic of Team Topologies.

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Bryan Ross @bryanross.me · 11/02/2025

This month on my Chief Therapy Officer newsletter, I lay out the basics of creating an AI strategy for your platform engineering initiative. I take a look behind the hype and dive into why I think there's more to AI than code generation. Let me know what you think!

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AI Strategy for Platform Engineering in 2025

The Unsexy Truth About AI Success in DevSecOps

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Bryan Ross @bryanross.me · 17/01/2025

"we in tech have a tendency to see every challenge through the lens of technology, searching for technical solutions to what are often fundamentally human problems. " -

buff.ly

What we can all learn from Larry the Cow

Celebrating another year on the tech rollercoaster

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Bryan Ross @bryanross.me · 10/01/2025

"Our records show that you have a [..] lifetime access account. As part of integrating A Cloud Guru into the Pluralsight platform, we are terminating your lifetime course access license [..] on Feb 1" ... I wonder if Pluralsight offers a "lifetime access account" so I can view what I paid for? 😂

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Bryan Ross @bryanross.me · 27/12/2024

Busy today re-stocking our wood supplies so that we can continue to cozy up around a real fire over the festive period! I bring the wood, my boys keep the fire going, and my wife makes the best hot chocolate! 🪵🔥☕️

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Bryan Ross @bryanross.me · 26/12/2024

Tensions are high in the Ross household, as the boys prepare for the Constructors Cup (of hot chocolate)! Last year we saw some very imaginative uses of icing sugar to help the structure endure more thumps from my rolling pin! 🏠🔨🍬

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Bryan Ross @bryanross.me · 25/12/2024

Happy festive everyone! 🎄❄ However you choose to spend this festive period, I wish you and your loved ones the very best!

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Bryan Ross @bryanross.me · 24/12/2024

Excitement builds in the Ross household as we kick off the annual Brandy Butter competition! My eldest is optimistic that 2024 is his year to take the (chocolate) crown this year! 🎄🥃🧈👑

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Bryan Ross @bryanross.me · 17/12/2024

Is it just me that's permanently disappointed at exactly how well going for even a short walk can change your brain juices for the better?

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Bryan Ross @bryanross.me · 16/12/2024

Why is getting access to IT systems such a painful experience? In this months article I share the most common issues I see developers have when starting with a new platform, and what platform engineers can do about them.

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Your platform onboarding probably sucks.

Here's how to fix it.

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Bryan Ross @bryanross.me · 12/12/2024

Platform Engineers let me save you a fortune in expensive consultancy…. Go buy a developer a coffee and just listen.

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Bryan Ross @bryanross.me · 06/12/2024

Best bring the washing in my Irish and Welsh friends! The shipping forecast says it all . . . . "⁠South or southwest 7 to severe gale 9, veering north or northwest severe gale 9 to violent storm 11" .... for reference... anything over an '8' is Very Bad News.

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Bryan Ross @bryanross.me · 04/12/2024

Okay ... things just got interesting! AWS and GitLab have just announced an integrated AI offering to accelerate software innovation and developer productivity: GitLab Duo with Amazon Q 👀

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GitLab Duo with Amazon Q: DevSecOps meets agentic AI

AI-powered DevSecOps enhanced with autonomous AI agents accelerates developer productivity, application modernization, and innovation.

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Bryan Ross @bryanross.me · 29/11/2024

The CNCF Platforms Working Group needs your input! After the Platform Engineering Maturity Model's success, we're now focusing on Platform-as-a-Product. Can you share your real-world experiences by completing our survey?

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Bryan Ross @bryanross.me · 25/11/2024

There’s something special about delivering a talk in your home town. Many thanks to everyone who attended my keynote speech for Digit Expo in Edinburgh and asked such great questions! 🙌 Another packed room! I snapped this photo myself beforehand!

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Bryan Ross @bryanross.me · 23/11/2024

My kids asked me at what age do you stop getting excited by snowfall … I told them I’d let them know as soon as it happens to me. ☃️

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Reposted by Bryan Ross

Sam Julien @samjulien.com · 20/11/2024

The Bluesky phenom is a good reminder that there is still *so much* kindness and good in the world and *so many* kind people out there. Yes, there are terrible things too, but don't forget to look for the good.

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Reposted by Bryan Ross

sarcastic parrot @monkchips.com · 20/11/2024

this comment is just so on point. it's fucking deep.

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Bryan Ross @bryanross.me · 18/11/2024

Sub-zero temperatures means it’s officially that time of year again! 🔥🥃

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Bryan Ross @bryanross.me · 15/11/2024

As I think about wrapping up the year, I want to share the top five ways I've seen platform engineering initiatives fail, based on 100's of customer discussions and my own decade of platform-building experience.

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5 Reasons Why Your Platform Engineering Initiative is Failing (and How to Fix It)

From misaligned priorities to stakeholder breakdowns—learn how to avoid platform failure.

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