Over the past few weeks, I have shared posts that describe the various tracks we are targeting for ChefConf this May 22-25 in Chicago. Each of these links will take you to a post that describes the track and provides some ideas and questions to help you start thinking about a story you might like to share.
- Infrastructure Automation
- Compliance Automation
- Application Automation
- People, Process, and Team
- Delivering Delight
- Chaos Engineering
Don’t Label Me!
So let’s say you have a DevOps or Automation or Digital Transformation story to share but not sure which of those would be most appropriate? Submit your story for the Don’t Label Me! track.
The topics in this track may be deeply technical or they may be focused on the human elements of automation. Here are some of the areas that I see ripe for submission that don’t fall into the typical ChefConf track structure.
Data Rules Everything Around Me
Whether in data bags, attributes, databases, third-party apis, or other external systems, data is everywhere. While automating systems we need to worry about protecting certain data, making sure other data is readily available, and work to understand what the data is telling us.
- How are you visualizing data?
- How are you using data to help inform decisions?
- How are you separating the data from the policies you are creating?
- How are you protecting secret data and sharing with only the appropriate parties?
- What role does automation play in data protection, data retention, data restoration?
I Love my Editor!
Vim, emacs, atom, visual studio code, it’s a battle for credibility with your fellow-developers. What is your favorite editor and what tricks and plugins do you utilize to make it feel like home? Speaking of home, how have you tricked-out your shell?
- What are you favorite editor plugins?
- Can you go from a blank screen to a running system without leaving your editor? Show us how!
- What about your shell? How do you navigate with enough context to stay productive?
Community – Collaboration Within and Across Companies
Creating, nurturing, and participating in a community can be extremely rewarding and can lead to better success in all of our endeavors. You are part of the Chef community but also a part of many other communities. Community participation can take many forms: contributing to open source software projects, participating in local meetups, hosting lunch-n-learns and demo days within your company, and more. Think about the communities of practice you are building internally and how you are working with the community of practitioners outside of you company. What stories can you share about your experiences?
- How are you nurturing your internal communities of practice around DevOps and automation?
- What steps are you taking to make your communities inclusive, welcoming, and diverse?
- How are you contributing to open source software projects across the ecosystem?
Really, anything else!
Seriously, what story are you looking to share? What does our community need to know? Propose that talk, drop it into the Don’t Label Me track and hope for the best. Even if your talk is not part of the official program you will have opportunities to share it throughout the hallway track and social events at ChefConf. See you in Chicago!
Pay it Forward
Your story and experiences are worth sharing with the community. Help others learn and further your own knowledge through sharing. The ChefConf CFP is open now. Use some of the questions posed here to help form a talk proposal for the Don’t Label Me track.
Submit your talk proposal now! The deadline is Wednesday, January 10, 2018 at 11:59 PM Pacific time.
