We all dream of greenfield DevOps but most of us live in org that are something more like a theme park.

In many medium and large organizations, infrastructure platforms aren’t shiny new rollercoasters, they’re a mix of legacy tracks, hybrid rides, and operational constraints that can’t be ignored. Teams not born in the cloud are now expected to deliver agility and resilience within systems shaped by years of governance and complexity.

In this talk, we’ll step into the Platform Ops Theme Park, where old and new must safely—and purposefully coexist. I’ll share lessons from years inside complex orgs, explore common anti-patterns, and introduce the idea of Evolutionary Platform Ops: a pragmatic, product-aware approach to infrastructure transformation that respects where you start, not just where you hope to land.

If you’re navigating platform evolution in the real world, perhaps balancing sovereignty, DevOps ideals, and legacy realities. This talk will offer lessons learnt, some keys for structure to aid your org journey.

Gielen Rojas-López is a transformation and platform strategy consultant with over 25 years of experience across business and technology. She has worked on behalf of Microsoft and VMware, supporting