2026-02-02, 14:00–14:50, B.1.017
Getting started with Ansible is exciting and rapidly improves your productivity. However I've revisited playbooks that I wrote almost a decade ago and found the code today to be almost unmaintainable. Should I have created a role instead of a playbook? Was it really a good idea to copy-paste between projects? (Spoiler: yes, but we've all done it somewhere!) This talk shares the practical knowledge I've gathered over years of working with Ansible—the kind of insights that only come from actually using it in production, making mistakes, and finding better approaches. In this talk, I'll share what worked, what didn't, and why—so you can build automation you'll still be happy with months down the line. You'll leave with both the fundamentals and the perspective that usually takes years to develop.
James Freeman is a published author and Senior Technical Account Manager at AWS, bringing over 25 years of technology expertise. With more than a decade of hands-on experience, James has tackled complex enterprise challenges in real-world production environments using Ansible, often introducing this powerful automation tool to CTOs and organizations for the first time. As the author of five authoritative books on Ansible, James is a recognized thought leader in IT automation. His expertise extends to facilitating tailored Ansible workshops and training sessions, and he is a sought-after speaker, having presented at international conferences and community meetups. James's passion for empowering others through automation continues to inspire engineers and businesses to unlock new possibilities in IT.