Amsterdam - FinOps X Day
Amsterdam is not the worst place to walk to a FinOps X day ;-)
A new week, not a normal week. On Monday I drove to Amsterdam for 2 days of FinOps goodness. On Monday evening we gathered in a small but knowledgable group to discuss the automation of FinOps during a MeetUp. I’ve always seen struggles in translating the action and keeping it consistent. It has been seen in many occasions that finding optimization or implementing policies were not consistently followed and with that the challenge starts to keep everything current. So that was the topic of the evening. On Tuesday the event organized by the FinOps Foundation started, at the Muziekgebouw aan ’t IJ. A stunning venue right on the water. And honestly: Amsterdam is one of those cities where you could easily stay longer just to wander around. But this time the focus was different: a full day packed with FinOps goodness.
I’ve been around the FinOps space for about four years now. I’ve swum through different waters, gone through a lot of growth myself, even if I don’t always notice it in the moment. I sometimes feel like I’m just winging it (which isn’t really true). What stands out most to me is how much others have grown as well. Some people I’ve known since the very beginning, some have moved away from FinOps but still drop by now and then to say hi, and others have pushed through and are now growing into roles that truly fit them in the long run. Same feeling I have the space is developing and every time we learn something new. Which is because of the growing field. Which is what struck me during this day is how huge FinOps has become. We’re doing super cool things, but it’s also becoming a lot. The depth of knowledge people bring to the table is just mind-blowing from practical optimizations to fully fledged strategic models.
That became clear in the chalk talks as well. In small groups we were handed a case to work on the one I joined about ITAM and FinOps. I ended up in the Risk group, and together we tore into the problem. Was it intense? Definitely. But that’s the beauty of it: the collaborative puzzle-solving. You get to see how differently people approach the same challenge, and how much you can actually learn from each other. No real right, no real wrong, just a good conversation on a case you receive. With all different views you get to a “conclusion”. I walked out with some interesting new views so 90 minutes well spent.
Another theme that surfaced for me during the presentations was TBM. It wasn’t explicitly named, but the cost models I saw clearly had traces of an ITFM approach very close to TBM. For me, that confirmed what I believe, cloud and FinOps never exist in isolation. They’re always part of a larger framework. Sometimes that framework is TBM, sometimes something else but the point remains that FinOps sits within a broader model and no single company has only cloud to in their finances. Does it?
And then there’s that familiar feeling: welcome home. It’s been a theme for a while now, but it still rings true. At an event like this, you don’t need to explain what FinOps is anymore. Everyone gets it. Everyone recognizes it. That creates an immediate bond. Seeing familiar faces, finally shaking hands with people you only met on-line, sharing the challenges we all deal with or just having a good laugh that’s what makes it special.
I drove back home afterwards. Plenty of time to let it all sink in. Amsterdam FinOps X Day was intense, inspiring, and above all: a real homecoming.