Policies, Not Platforms: Practical Lessons for GitOps & DevEx Success

Steve Fenton, Head of DevRel & Principal DevEx Researcher at Octopus, shares findings from Octopus’ Platform Engineering Pulse research. He explains why making security and operational policies mandatory often drives healthier platform adoption, how GitOps and Argo are shaping deployments, and which metrics (DORA / Monk) actually matter for platform success. Short, practical, and research-backed takeaways for platform teams and engineering leaders.