FinOps X day London 2026 - Keynote comments
My notes from the FinOps X day London 2026. In not particular order.
A mature FinOps practice can still be useless to leadership
Your strategy dies before it reaches engineering
Strategy rarely reaches engineers intact. As decisions are reworked at every level, intent fragments and organisations drift. This model shows how to carry strategy through intent, policies, and implementation—and why FinOps sits at the centre of making it happen.
Why FinOps still lives in Excel
FinOps still lives in Excel not because tools are weak, but because the discipline lacks mandatory, GAAP-like standards. Without set in stone standardsthere is not much to build on. Until the foundation stabilises, wide adjustments are needed, and maturity stays out of reach.
Your dashboard is lying (but not the way you think)
Cloud vendors mark cost data as provisional until month-end billing is finalised, yet most FinOps dashboards ignore that and display mid-month numbers as truth. In FinOps, usage is daily, but finance is monthly. Real control comes from governance and behaviour, not hourly refreshes.
Why shift left makes me uncomfortable
Shift-left is framed as empowerment: show engineers the cost impact and let them decide. But when economic responsibility moves down without strategic intent, budget ownership and reward moving with it, ownership can quietly become exposure.
Stop being supportive AI, please
AI feels helpful when you are thinking—but that is the trap.