This week’s Software Defined Talk: This week, we discuss the end of Cloud 1.0, AI agents fixing old apps, and Chainguard vs. Docker images. Plus, the mystery of Dutch broth is finally solved.

I recommend the traditional podcast format.

This week’s Software Defined Interviews: we talk with Nathen Harvey, who leads the DORA research program at Google Cloud. They talk about what 15 years of DevOps and delivery data actually says about AI. The answer feels something like “it makes you even better at what you’re already good at.” High-performing teams get better, while struggling teams just move faster into bottlenecks. The talk about AI-assisted software development, why throughput is rising while stability drops, how culture still beats tools, and why “user-centric” work remains stubbornly hard despite being obvious.

There’s also the traditional podcast version.

This week’s Software Defined Interviews episode is with Lian Li:

In this episode, Whitney and Coté talk with Lian, a “cloud-native human” with a 15-year career in tech. Lian discusses her transition from tech to performance art, her experiences in amateur musical theater, stand-up comedy, and improv theater. She talks about platform engineering, the importance of community building in tech, and balancing professional life with personal projects. They also cover her unique improv workshops for engineers at conferences and the popular KubeCon karaoke parties she organizes.

Listen and subscribe, or watch the video (above) if you’re into that kind of thing.

The Alpha and The Omega, Software Defined Talk #554: This week, Brandon and I discuss AI’s impact on Stack Overflow, Docker’s Hardened Images, and Nvidia buying Groq. Plus, thoughts on playing your own game and having fun. If you don’t like the traditional podcast format, check out the unedited recording.

Do you listen to my podcast, Software Defined Talk? If you do, I’d appreciate you taking the time to fill out our listener survey. We do occasional ads and paid interviews, and this helps us do more and charge more. It means we can pay for the podcast and some tasty beef ribs at the end of the year. Also, I’m always curious to know more about listeners. It should just take a couple minutes, I’d appreciate it if you made the time to answer the survey. Also, stickers are always free, so if you fill it out and want a reward, just email stickers@softwaredefinedtalk.com and we’ll mail them anywhere in the world, for free.

Software Defined Talk’s 2025 Year in Review - This week, we review our 2025 predictions, discuss the big stories, and speculate on 2026. Plus, Coté dives deep into the EU broth market.

Check out the traditional podcast version if you prefer that over video.

I liked Jana’s book The Octopus Organization, and there were so many more questions I had.

The Octopus Organization is a great collection of organization anti-patterns. This week, one of the co-authors, Jana Werner talks with Whitney and Coté about those patterns and her own experiences. They go over topics like reading habits, the role of business books, decision making, ownership, curiosity in organizations. practical steps to avoid common corporate anti-patterns, the importance of clear communication and leadership principles, and rubber pigs.

Check out the rest in our interview with Jana Werner. It was a fun discussion.