Amy Carrillo Cotten shares her perspective on how DevOps teams are evolving in an era defined by AI acceleration, rapid release cycles, and shifting engineering priorities. Drawing from her experience leading engineering transformation initiatives, Cotten emphasized that while automation continues to drive efficiency, true DevOps maturity still depends on people, processes, and the right mindset.

Cotten noted that many organizations are still struggling to balance speed and quality. The drive to ship code faster often outpaces efforts to measure impact or ensure that teams have the skills needed to validate AI-assisted development. She pointed out that engineering success isn’t just about writing more code — it’s about understanding how that code contributes to business outcomes and user experience.

The discussion also touched on the widening skill gap as AI and automation reshape development workflows. Cotten highlighted that leaders must focus not only on reskilling technical teams but also on creating a culture of continuous improvement — one that integrates data-driven insights into how engineers collaborate, communicate, and measure productivity.

She also underscored the importance of operational visibility across the DevOps lifecycle. Without unified insights into performance metrics and workflow health, teams risk falling back into silos that undermine agility. By building stronger feedback loops between developers, QA, and operations, organizations can ensure that innovation doesn’t come at the expense of reliability.

Ultimately, Cotten said, the future of DevOps will hinge on empathy, transparency, and discipline. Technology may continue to evolve, but sustainable delivery still depends on teams that understand how to move fast — responsibly.