Path to Production Is Dark & Full of Terrors: Journey Through Terraform, DevEx, & Infra Lifecycle

Infrastructure as Code began a journey, but few reach the destination: scalable, compliant, and easy-to-onboard infrastructure. Like Bilbo Baggins, many teams start strong but hit later challenges, like managing complexity and enforcing policy. This session uses the Hero’s Journey to map the Infrastructure Lifecycle. We'll explore how version control, policy-as-code, and self-service provisioning guide the SRE. Discover where teams get stuck, how policy becomes a mentor, and what maturity (trust, visibility, speed) truly means. Through a visual walkthrough, see confusion evolve into clarity. This talk offers technical insight and a better map for your team's journey ahead.