Leadership Retros

Request Membership
Menu
Menu

Events / Johannesburg

DevX Forward: Joburg

Building AI-native developer platforms with Backstage

A working afternoon for engineering and platform leaders building better developer experiences. Real implementation stories, a live platform demonstration, and conversations that continue beyond the stage.
  • Thursday, 29 October 2026
  • Afternoon sessions followed by networking drinks
  • Sandton, Johannesburg
  • Exact time and venue to be announced
Request an invitation
Explore the Program
  • Request an invitation

Join the room shaping what comes next for DevX.

Participation is by invitation. Share a few details and the team will review your request.

  • Thursday, 29 October 2026
  • Sandton, Johannesburg
  • Afternoon sessions followed by networking drinks

    • The central question

    What should an AI-native developer platform actually do for developers?

    More teams have a service catalog. Fewer have a platform that makes it genuinely easier to discover services, follow trusted paths, find the right knowledge and ship safely. AI raises the stakes: how can platform teams make intelligent assistance useful, grounded and governed? DevX Forward brings South Africa’s practitioners and engineering leaders into the same room to compare what works in production and what still needs to be built.

    • The StatusNeo point of view

    What the room will cover

    01

    Backstage beyond the catalog
    Adoption, ownership, TechDocs, templates and service discovery in a real enterprise.

    02

    AI inside the developer platform

    Assistants grounded in catalog and documentation, with permissions, traceability and sensible guardrails.

    03

    Golden paths developers choose
    Self-service workflows that reduce friction without forcing every team into the same shape.

    04

    Measuring developer experience
    Observability, DORA signals and outcomes that tell us whether the platform helps.
    • Format

    Indicative programme

    This is an indicative programme. Timings and speakers will be published once confirmed.

    01

    Practitioner perspectives

    Implementation lessons from engineering and platform teams

    02

    Live platform demonstration

    A planned live demonstration of an AI assistant grounded in Backstage TechDocs and the Software Catalog, with governance built in.

    03

    Leaders' exchange

    A candid exchange among platform and engineering leaders.

    01

    Networking drinks

    Drinks and conversation into the late afternoon and early evening.

    Developer events
    Gurugram
    Tbilisi
    Johannesburg
    Hyderabad
    London
    Authentic AI
    Executive dinners
    Roundtables
    Practitioner forums
    Developer events
    Gurugram
    Tbilisi
    Johannesburg
    Hyderabad
    London
    Authentic AI
    Executive dinners
    Roundtables
    Practitioner forums
    Developer events
    Gurugram
    Tbilisi
    Johannesburg
    Hyderabad
    London
    Authentic AI
    Executive dinners
    Roundtables
    Practitioner forums
    Developer events
    Gurugram
    Tbilisi
    Johannesburg
    Hyderabad
    London
    Authentic AI
    Executive dinners
    Roundtables
    Practitioner forums
    Developer events
    Gurugram
    Tbilisi
    Johannesburg
    Hyderabad
    London
    Authentic AI
    Executive dinners
    Roundtables
    Practitioner forums
    Innovate Together
    Connect Leaders
    Innovate Together
    Connect Leaders
    Innovate Together
    Connect Leaders
    Innovate Together
    Connect Leaders
    Innovate Together
    Connect Leaders
    • Your hosts

    Hosted by StatusNeo leadership

    Founder and CEO, StatusNeo
    Karan Nangru
    Karan Nangru is the Founder and CEO of StatusNeo. He spends his time between the US, UK and StatusNeo’s global markets, working closely with CXOs across the world’s leading banks, airlines, travel companies, retailers and healthcare organisations.
    He is a strategic advisor to senior and managing partners at leading global consulting firms, and to the leadership teams of the businesses he works with – focused on where technology, data and AI are taking an industry next, and on the upstream business value that downstream engineering execution must deliver.
    StatusNeo
    Nikolozi Metreveli

    Details of the second StatusNeo host will be published here once confirmed.

     
    • Agenda

    Friday 9 October 2026

    Times in IST. A private, off-the-record peer conversation.

    6:00–6:50 PM

    Guest introductions, drinks, canapés and CXO networking

    6:50–7:00 PM

    Welcome and context from Leadership Retros

    7:00–7:15 PM

    Provocation: Authentic AI: Where is AI actually showing up in the P&L?

    Karan Nangru, Founder and CEO, StatusNeo

    7:15–7:25 PM

    The product and customer lens: from AI capability to enterprise adoption

    StatusNeo co-host to be announced

    7:25–9:00 PM

    Moderated, off-the-record discussion over dinner

    9:00 PM onwards

    Closing perspectives and further networking

    • The venue

    Trident, Gurgaon

    443 Udyog Vihar, Phase V, Gurugram, Haryana 122016

    Set in landscaped gardens in Udyog Vihar, a few minutes from DLF Cyber City. Valet parking is available at the hotel.

    • Request an invitation

    Join the room shaping what comes next for DevX.

    Participation is by invitation. Share a few details and the team will review your request.

    • Thursday, 29 October 2026
    • Sandton, Johannesburg
    • Afternoon sessions followed by networking drinks

      Know a platform leader who should be in the room?

      Recommend a peer, or talk to us about speaking.

      Recommend a peer

      Leadership Retros

      Conference & Event