PurePerformance

As the software world is transforming from cloud native to AI-native, observability must transform with it. But how exactly? How do we apply this in an existing enterprise with established processes and practices?
In this PurePerformance episode, Andi Grabner hosts Hilliary Lipsig and Rob Rati to discuss their new book, Observability in the AI‑Native Era. The conversation explores how AIOps, automation, and modern observability must evolve as systems become cloud‑native, data‑heavy, and AI‑driven.
We talk about why old alerting and SLO models no longer scale, how to balance AI with automation and human judgment, and why trust, security, and compliance matter more than ever when machines start making operational decisions. A must‑listen for SREs, platform engineers, and engineering leaders navigating the AI‑native future.
Links we discussed
Book on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Observability-AI-Native-Era-Artificial-Intelligence-ebook/dp/B0GHZH1YFL
Hilliary LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/hilliary-lipsig-a5935245/
Rob LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/roberthrati/
Andi LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/grabnerandi/

AI coding agents are fast—but speed alone doesn’t guarantee quality. In this episode, Andi Grabner talks with Lukas Holzer (Straion) about why large context files and “almost right” AI code create new risks for engineering teams. You will learn about the "Lost in the Middle Syndrom" and why many organizations are not getting the promised 10x engineering boost right now!
Andi and Lukas also explore rule adherence, dynamic context generation, enterprise readiness for AI-first development, and how software engineering roles are evolving in the age of AI.
Tune in to learn more ...

Links we discussed
LinkedIn Profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lukas-holzer/
Straion Website: https://straion.com/
90 Percent Rule Blog: https://straion.com/blog/90-percent-rule-adherence-straion-coding-agents/
1million tokens Blog: https://straion.com/blog/1m-tokens-wont-save-your-engineering-standards/

In this episode of the PurePerformance Podcast, Andi and Brian sit down with Chris LaBrado—Solutions Architect for AI Enablement, FSO, SRE, and ITSM at HSN/QVC, where he has spent an incredible 27 years shaping operational excellence. Their conversation dives deep into how AI is transforming software creation, enterprise workflows, and even the very role of developers.
Chris shares how the barrier to entry for building tools and automation has dropped overnight thanks to natural‑language-based development: “Everyone can now create automation or tools without having to worry about the syntax.” He explains why AI is rapidly becoming the primary interface into the enterprise—capable of navigating presentations, emails, and complex back‑office systems—and why the future of engineering may shift from human‑oriented coding to AI-driven development models such as MDCD (MarkDown Continuous Development).
The discussion also takes unexpected but fascinating detours into Chris’s background as a former bowling‑industry podcaster, his recent work with generative agents like DynaClaude, his Vibe Coded Root Cause Agent, and a philosophical exploration of AI, creativity, and the concept of singularity.
Amidst all the change, Chris remains optimistic: “AI opens up a lot of new opportunity for everyone willing to adapt. It will result in us creating more things that ultimately help us as humans.” This episode is a thoughtful, energizing look at where software engineering is headed—and why the future might be brighter than we think.

Links we discussed
Chris LaBrado on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/chrislabrado/
Mo Gawdat, former Google Executive on the Singularity "moment of truth": https://x.com/vitrupo/status/2008824930646057380?s=20
CEO of NVIDIA had an interesting excerpt from interview: https://x.com/MinusWells/status/2031974516155695414?s=20
Elon Musk on speed of AI: https://x.com/r0ck3t23/status/2031639621465931903?s=20
AI brain emulation of a fly (e.g. "a sign of the times"): https://x.com/alexwg/status/2030217301929132323?s=20
Elon on fiat currency transforming based on AI manufacturing loop: https://x.com/elonmusk/status/2020202496547844312?s=20
Fiat currency moves to model based on thermodynamics: https://x.com/r0ck3t23/status/2033371028202602547?s=20

In this episode, Andi and Brian welcome back Adam Tornhill—founder of CodeScene and author of Your Code as a Crime Scene—to explore how agentic AI is reshaping software engineering. Adam shares his personal journey from 40 years of hands-on coding to orchestrating AI-generated code, and what this shift really means for development teams.
Together, they dive into new research on the hidden risks of AI-assisted coding, why low-quality or legacy code slows AI down, and how to measure the “AI-readiness” of a codebase. Adam breaks down practical strategies from his latest work on Agentic AI Coding, including guardrails, refactoring patterns, enforced processes, and why test coverage has become a surprising cornerstone for safe, fast AI iteration.
Whether you're experimenting with AI coding tools or planning enterprise-scale adoption, this episode delivers actionable guidance rooted in data, engineering discipline, and real-world experience.
Links
https://codescene.com/blog/agentic-ai-coding-best-practice-patterns-for-speed-with-quality
https://codescene.com/blog/strengthening-the-inner-developer-loop-turn-ai-into-a-reliable-engineering-partner

AI is transforming software engineering—faster than many teams can adapt. In this episode, Andi talks with Wolfgang Heider and Benedict Evert about what it really means to build “AI‑native” software, where prototypes turn into production apps in minutes.
We explore why good engineering fundamentals still matter, how multi‑agent workflows mirror traditional roles, and why testing, governance, and clarity of intent become more important—not less.
We also discuss the future of junior engineers, the risk of everyone reinventing the same solution, and why value—not code generation—is becoming the real differentiator.

Links we discussed
https://www.linkedin.com/posts/wolfgangheider_productmanagement-softwareengineering-ai-activity-7425746505883607042-D1OZ
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/machines-making-wolfgang-heider-5mvsf
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/i-built-app-between-final-stranger-things-episodes-wolfgang-heider-5penf/
https://futurelab.studio/ora/ 
https://futurelab.studio/htmlctl/

Why do we still struggle with resilience in 2026? Is it the growing complexity of systems, the pressure to ship fast, or a lack of education around resilient design? In this episode we welcome Adrian Hornsby from Resilium Labs to explore these questions and learn about chaos, complexity, and the importance of continuous learning!
Adrian has learned his chaos engineering skills while working at AWS for many years. He shares insights from his upcoming book and his experience helping organizations embrace resilience as a continuous learning practice. We discuss:

• Why traditional chaos engineering assumptions break down when AI starts writing your code.
• The rise of AI-powered SRE agents—are they a blessing or a missed learning opportunity?
• Organizational challenges and the importance of tracking near misses.

Links we discussed
Adrians LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/adhorn/
Resilium Labs: https://www.resiliumlabs.com/
Upcoming Book: https://leanpub.com/whywestillsuckatresilience

Contributing to Open Source is easier than ever - especially because contributions are needed for documentation, demos, tutorials and code. But how to get started? Where to look for "first good issues"? Is everyone welcome? What are the prerequisites?
Tune in and hear from Diana Todea, Developer Experience Engineer at Victoria Metrics, on how within a year she made it from Zero to Developer and receiving the Contributor Award for OpenTelemetry 2025 at KubeCon Atlanta. Diana shares her journey, how she started, how she found the right topic and how she keeps herself motivated. Diana is also the Co-lead of the Neurodiversity CNCF Working Group and gives us insights into the Merge Forward community. 
And don't forget: Call for Papers for Cloud Native Days Romania and Austria are open and both Diana and Andi would be glad to see your proposals!
So - what are you waiting for?

Links we discussed:
Diana's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/diana-todea-b2a79968/ 
From Zero to Developer Talk: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nPrxpEE5GpY 
Contributor Award: https://siliconangle.com/2025/11/13/accessibility-meets-open-source-collaboration-kubeconna/ 
Her latest CNCF Blog Post: https://www.cncf.io/blog/2025/12/04/my-first-kubecon-cloudnativecon-a-journey-through-community-inclusivity-and-neurodiversity/
Start contributing to Open Source: https://contribute.cncf.io/contributors/getting-started/ 
Diana's Conference Talks: https://github.com/didiViking/Conferences_Talks 
Diana on Medium: https://medium.com/@dianatodea/ 
Articles on OpenTelemetry for beginners: 
https://medium.com/@dianatodea/the-unofficial-guide-to-contributing-to-opentelemetry-where-to-look-and-who-to-talk-to-9de04ae75fe0 
CNCF Merge-Forward: https://community.cncf.io/merge-forward
CNCF Neurodiversity initiative: https://community.cncf.io/neurodiversity 
Cloud Native Days Romania: https://cloudnativedays.ro/
Cloud Native Days Austria: https://cloudnativedays.at/ 

From Systems Engineer in Aeronautics via many clouds to becoming an SRE in Observability! That's the path from our guest, Alexandra Franz who is a Lead Product Engineer in SRE at Dynatrace. Tune in and learn how their team plans ahead for expected high traffic around Black Friday, Cyber Monday or the Super Bowl. We discuss how regional traffic patterns and differences in available hardware get factored in for capacity management and cost control. We also learn why global cloud outages are stressful - but - how those incidents can also be the reward for a good SRE.

Make sure to connect with Alexandra on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexandrafranz/

If you are still treating your AI Coding Agent like a chat bot and not like a development team then this is one more reason to tune into this episode.
In his blog post series 31 Days of Vibe Coding, Jeff Blankenburg walks us through all the lessons learned when bringing an idea to life just with vibe coding. His idea was building a website for collectors of baseball cards. With now more than 950k cards from almost 10k players, he has proven that vibe coding, when done right, can truly boost the output of software engineers. 
Tune in and learn about how to effectively use Git Issues as the backlog for your AI, the importance of going through different phases in your conversation with the AI and why it is important to ask the AI the question: "Do you have any questions for me?"

Links we discussed
LinkedIn Profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeffblankenburg/
31 Days of Vibe Coding: https://31daysofvibecoding.com/
Collect Your Cards: https://collectyourcards.com/
Claude: https://claude.ai/

How many people have you met that implemented distributed tracing in the early 2000s? Make it one more after you have tuned into our latest podcast with William Louth. 
William, who can't seem to escape the observability space even though he keeps trying, has a track record in the space. He is an innovator and tool builder and is currently reimagining intelligent systems by shifting the focus from data collection to meaning-making. In our conversation we learn about situational awareness and how systems should use symbols to show their current state by also taking into account everything they are aware of happening in their ecosystem.
This podcast episode has been long overdue and opens a fascinating new world beyond metrics, logs and traces!

Links discussed
Williams LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/william-david-louth/
Humainary Research: https://humainary.io/research/
Humainary GitHub: https://github.com/humainary-io
Serventis Signs: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/humainary-io/substrates-api-java/refs/heads/main/ext/serventis/SIGNS.md