DevOps Exchange April @ Microsoft

A huge thank you to everyone who joined us last night at the Microsoft Reactor HQ in Paddington. We had a packed house for an exciting evening diving into AI agents, SBOMs, and observability, led by three incredible expert speakers.

First up, we introduced to the stage Ricardo Moreira from Vodafone who dived into the significance of observability, data, and their intricate relationship with AI. Ricardo explained the evolution of software development from the era of agile methodologies to DevOps and highlighted the role of observability in monitoring system behavior and data integrity. 

He also explored how essential clean, comprehensive data is for effective AI systems, advocating for a culture of sharing and collective problem solving within teams. Additionally, Ricardo discussed the intersection of AI with observability and encouraged questions from the audience about future trends and challenges in data democracy.



Viktor Petersson from sbomify then broke down the concept of Software Bill of Materials (SBOMs), a detailed inventory of all components that make up a piece of software. Think of it like a food label, but for code: it helps teams understand exactly what’s inside their software and where potential vulnerabilities might lie.

The talk highlighted the increasing importance of building software that’s “secure by design,” and how SBOMs are becoming foundational to this approach. From open source libraries to third party dependencies, having visibility into every part of the software stack is no longer optional, t’s essential.

The session walked us through the key phases of working with SBOMs: generation, distribution, and analysis. Backed by industry insights and actionable best practices, Viktor demonstrated how these steps can help teams not only meet compliance goals but also build more trustworthy software supply chains.



For the final session of the evening, Nishi Ajmera from Publicis Sapient offered an insightful deep dive into the evolving landscape of AI agents, exploring how they’re designed, how they function, and the growing range of tasks they’re being used for.

Nishi walked us through what it takes to build effective AI agents, introducing a practical framework based on role, goal, and backstory. She stressed the importance of task specificity and striking the right balance between specialisation and adaptability, helping teams avoid common missteps like vague prompts or overly complex designs.

Finally, we were introduced to agentic workflows, where multiple AI agents collaborate to achieve a shared objective. From automating customer service to assisting with code generation and financial analysis, the use cases are growing fast, along with the opportunities.



As always, a big thank you to everyone who was involved in running this event, to our hosts Microsoft and to our incredible speakers for their talks! 

The DevOps Exchange will be back in May, where we will be hosted by Monzo. Please keep an eye on our Meetup page for event announcements.

If you are interested in speaking, sponsoring or hosting a future event with us, please submit your details here.

We look forward to seeing you all soon!