John Bristowe brings over 20 years of experience in technology to his role as Community Director at Octopus Deploy. His career includes time at Progress and Microsoft, where he developed his skills in management and technology. Known for a straightforward and engaging style, John often speaks at industry conferences, sharing practical tips and insights. John is a HashiCorp Ambassador and part of the Progress Champions program.

He enjoys creating content such as articles, webinars, and podcasts, aiming to help others in the tech community. In his free time, John likes to stay informed about the latest tech developments and shares his learning with an online audience. His approach is always about sharing knowledge and learning together.

Topics of Discussion:

[2:47] John shares his career journey, starting at Microsoft in 2005, and his involvement in developer evangelism.

[4:03] The evolution of Octopus Deploy, from an open-source project to a commercial tool.

[5:47] The importance of setting up deployment pipelines and the challenges of deploying on weekends due to brittle pipelines.

[6:36] Check out the Octopus Deploy roadmap for updates on new features and innovations.

[9:04] The potential of AI in the deployment space and the importance of maintaining a balance between AI and human involvement.

[10:46] More about Codefresh.

[11:23] The integration of AI capabilities in Octopus Deploy, including the AI assistant.

[15:17] Designer Experience vs. Text-Based Workflows.

[24:43] Common use cases for runbooks, including server maintenance, database management, and cost management in Kubernetes.

[26:22] The importance of automated health checks and runbooks for ensuring reliable and cost-effective deployments.

[29:58] Platform Hub and Enterprise Scalability.

Mentioned in this Episode:

Clear Measure Way

Architect Forum

Software Engineer Forum

Octopus Deploy

Codefresh

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Mads is a Principal Product Manager on the Visual Studio team at Microsoft, where he champions developer productivity, performance, and extensibility. With a deep passion for streamlining the development experience, Mads has created dozens of widely used Visual Studio extensions — including Web Essentials, File Nesting, and Markdown Editor v2 — and maintains the Extensibility Essentials toolkit to empower other developers to build better tools. Mads brings over a decade of experience in web development on the Microsoft platform. He is also the founder of SchemaStore.org and a home automation enthusiast. Known for his engaging presentations and hands-on insights, Mads is a frequent speaker at developer conferences worldwide. He lives in the Pacific Northwest and his mission is simple: to make Visual Studio the most delightful development environment on the planet.

Topics of Discussion:

[2:38] More about Mads’ career journey at Microsoft.

[5:14] The new and improved Visual Studio.

[7:44] Backwards compatibility is a key feature — .NET solutions will still work across different Visual Studio versions.

[8:55] How Microsoft’s strategy differentiates between Visual Studio and VS Code.

[10:42] Visual Studio is the premier development environment for .NET and C# on Windows, offering the most comprehensive and optimized experience. While VS Code can handle .NET development, it’s not as feature-rich or performant as the full Visual Studio.

[12:58] Visual Studio has moved to a monthly release cadence to be more competitive with VS Code’s frequent updates.

[13:48] Deep AI integration in Visual Studio allows for context-aware assistance, including a new profiler agent that can help optimize code performance.

[23:53] Compilation performance is improved in Visual Studio 2026.

[26:35] The new profiler agent can be invoked through Copilot chat, running benchmarks and suggesting performance improvements scientifically.

[30:30] Developers can create custom MCP servers to integrate private systems and databases with AI tools using a project template.

[35:39] The AI coding agent in Visual Studio can work autonomously or with developer supervision, creating pull requests or working alongside the developer.

[39:11] Visual Studio’s Copilot can be used as a companion to bounce ideas off, helping with architectural decisions and new feature explorations.

Mentioned in this Episode:

Clear Measure Way

Architect Forum

Software Engineer Forum

Mads Kristensen on LinkedIn

@mkristensen on X

Mads Kristensen

JSON Schema Store

Visual Studio

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Brad Frazer is a Boise-based attorney and partner at Hawley Troxell, Idaho’s largest law firm, where he leads the Intellectual Property & Internet practice group with a specific focus in IP Strategy, AI, Data Security, and IT. A graduate of BYU, UC Hastings, and the University of Utah, Brad has decades of experience in cybersecurity, internet law, and IP, including roles as Deputy General Counsel at major tech firms. He’s also a published novelist and a recognized expert in emerging technologies like blockchain, NFTs, and Web3.

Richard Hundhausen helps software organizations and teams deliver better products by understanding and leveraging Azure DevOps and Scrum. He is a Professional Scrum Trainer and author of Professional Scrum with Azure DevOps (MS Press). As a software developer and consultant with over 30 years of experience, he understands that software is built and delivered by people and not by processes or tools.

Topics of Discussion:

[2:24] Richard and Brad share their enthusiasm for AI, and they discuss the legal implications of using AI-generated code.

[4:00] Brad explains that ownership of AI-generated code is academic until legal issues arise, such as lawsuits or investment rounds.

[5:29] Richard explains the process of using AI tools to create code, emphasizing the iterative nature of the process.

[8:02] The nuances of copyright law, including the need for human authorship to establish ownership.

[10:57] How one gets a registered copyright.

[14:19] The different things that AI-driven development can mean.

[19:44] Risk avoidance practices as a coder.

[23:46] Brad advises software developers to be aware of the legal environment and the potential risks of using AI tools.

[24:59] What is an AI output, and what is just the computer being helpful?

[32:35] Brad shares a real-world example of a $20 million deal where the seller did not own the code, highlighting the potential risks.

[38:38] Brad mentions the Anthropic case, where the company was sued for training its LLM on copyrighted material.

[41:22] Richard and Brad discuss the importance of raising awareness and providing resources to help developers understand the legal implications of using AI tools.

Mentioned in this Episode:

Clear Measure Way

Architect Forum

Software Engineer Forum

Brad Frazer LinkedIn

Richard Hundhausen LinkedIn

Thaler vs. Perlmutter

Bartz v. Anthropic

Who Owns the Code?

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