In this episode of Policy Bytes, hosts Courtney Nickerson and Jim Bugwadia sit down with Eric Godding Boye, a veteran software engineer and maintainer for cert-manager . Eric shares his 30-year journey from Java development to becoming a pivotal figure in the Cloud Native ecosystem .

The conversation explores the practical intersection of policy as code and platform engineering, highlighting how tools like Kyverno and cert-manager simplify Kubernetes for developers . Eric discusses his "hobby" as an open-source maintainer and the importance of Open Reports for standardizing governance . The trio also touches on the future of AI-powered automation, the maturity of Kubernetes, and the upcoming KubeCon Europe.

Policy-as-code isn't just about security—it's about enabling developers. In our very first episode of PolicyBytes, we are joined by DevOps consultant Marie Padberg to discuss her journey implementing Kyverno.

From navigating strict German Grundschutz compliance laws to replacing legacy Java webhooks with modern policies, Marie shares what works (and what doesn't) in the real world. plus, we discuss why AI tools often "hallucinate" Kubernetes operators and how platform teams can better bridge the gap with developers using mutating policies.

Listen now to get practical advice on starting your policy journey!

In this inaugural episode of PolicyBytes, meet the core team behind Kyverno—the CNCF-incubating Kubernetes policy engine trusted by enterprises worldwide. You'll hear how Kyverno evolved from an internal project into a CNCF-incubating open-source policy engine trusted by organizations worldwide for Kubernetes security, compliance, and governance. This episode also explains why policy-as-code is now a foundational security and governance layer in AI-accelerated cloud-native environments and how open-source collaboration is shaping its future.

This podcast episode explores:

• Kyverno's transition to CEL-based policies

• The new MCP Server for external cluster scanning and automated remediation

• AI-assisted policy authoring and intelligent policy fixes

• The Chainsaw testing tool for policy validation

• Unified reporting with Open Reports

• The future of policy-as-code beyond Kubernetes, including AI agents and AI model security