Why shift left makes me uncomfortable
Shift-left is framed as empowerment: show engineers the cost impact and let them decide. But when economic responsibility moves down without strategic intent, budget …
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News - cracker method for AI cost optimisation?
AI costs are splitting in two directions. Microsoft is cutting cloud prices while GPU and inference bills explode. This article shows why “AI infrastructure” is no longer …
News - Two days in February. Same AI technology. Palantir posts +70% revenue growth. The software sector watches $285 billion evaporate.
• Same AI, opposite outcomes: Palantir surges, software stocks crash. • The difference is context. • AI rewards vendors embedded in unique, defensible data and workflows. …
How to give FinOps authority without creating bureaucracy
Executive sponsorship matters in FinOps, but intent alone is not enough. This article introduces the FinOps Executive Mandate, a practical artefact that turns sponsorship …
The illusion of less work
AI does not remove work; it multiplies it. When output becomes cheap, volume explodes. Without leadership deciding what “enough” looks like, optimisation just accelerates …
When the defaults no longer fit
FinOps often feels simple on paper, then stubbornly complex in practice. When the defaults stop fitting, the friction isn’t failure. It’s experience. This field note is …
The end of AI blank cheques
The AI spend surge is colliding with financial reality. Cloud is now a major operating cost, forecast variance is rising, and CFOs are taking ownership. AI unit economics …
How to build an Agent policy
Agents need a policy. Don’t reinvent governance. Apply what you already do with people: review, limit, escalate, grow trust. Reality begins not when the model speaks, but …
AWS feels different. Here’s how that changes my approach.
Something has changed in how AWS absorbs mistakes. Benevolence hasn’t disappeared, but it’s no longer where many practitioners expect it. This essay examines what happens …
Why Shift-Left often just shifts the load
In practice, Shift-Left often does something else entirely: it shifts the cognitive burden onto people who are already overloaded.