ChefConf

Generating excitement and interest around a DevOps transformation can be difficult in any organization. When you are trying to do it across ten, the complexities are at an all-new level. One method to bring people together is to rally them behind a central cause and tool. We chose automation and Chef as that starting point. Like any complex and highly effective tool, Chef can only prove its value through training, proper use, collaboration and support. With these things, Chef is a powerful weapon for configuration management and consistency. Our approach focuses not only on how to wield the weapon, but how to do so with finesse. Pauly will speak to the cultural movement within Hearst, and how Chef is bringing teams together and removing reliance on the “caped hero”. Sharing a common goal, language and approach not only brings the team's closer, it makes accomplishing goals smoother. He will showcase the challenges and show how we overcame them so that the position of the team is now one of cultural and automation enablement rather than another step/bottleneck on the continuum. Aaron will share our journey from classic data center to the AWS cloud with multiple business units, including Fitch. He will discuss techniques used to mentor rather than just train people in the Chef approach. He’ll show how to overcome the challenges and roadblocks associated with migrating a complex application to the cloud using a tool like Chef, along with CloudFormation templates, and Chef deployment mechanisms.