Interview - The research says that the real job of a FinOps practitioner isn’t FinOps

Episode description

From Actor to FinOps Researcher: Insights from 21 Practitioners on the Human Side of FinOps

What makes a great FinOps practitioner?

In the first episode of FinOps After the Low-Hanging Fruits, Frank Contrepois talks to Olivier, a recent University of Manchester graduate. His research focused on the human side of FinOps, interviewing 21 practitioners from Europe, North America, and Asia.

Instead of diving into cloud tech or cost-saving methods, they discuss the people in FinOps. They explore how backgrounds shape decisions, why organisations adopt FinOps differently, and what newcomers can learn from experienced professionals.

Key topics include:

• Why FinOps is a human and behavioural discipline, not just technical.
• Insights from interviews with practitioners across various industries.
• How backgrounds in engineering, finance, leadership, and consulting influence approaches to FinOps.
• The emergence of a second generation of FinOps professionals.
• The challenge of balancing frameworks with the unique ways organisations implement FinOps.
• The role of practitioners as translators between engineering, finance, procurement, and leadership.
• Why building connections between teams is often more important than deep technical expertise.
• How organisations can shift from centralised FinOps teams to a true FinOps culture.
• The significance of incentives, behaviours, and communication over tools and dashboards.
• Mental models that help navigate complexity, including:
  • Context is everything
  • Flip the coin
  • FinOps as translation
  • FinOps as behaviour
• Why top practitioners know when to listen and recognise when someone truly understands.

This episode examines what comes after obvious cloud savings. Success depends more on communication, culture, organisational design, and helping people make better choices.

If you've ever questioned whether FinOps is just about cloud costs or about changing organisational mindsets, you'll find this conversation enlightening.

Guest: Oliver Kennett Host: Frank Contrepois FinOps After the Low-Hanging Fruits is a podcast that delves into the tougher aspects of FinOps: governance, communication, leadership, organisational behaviour, forecasting, negotiation, and the strategic challenges that arise when easy savings are already achieved.