Are "bad tagging" and "unused resources" really the problem, or just the symptoms of a bigger one?
In this episode of FinOps in Action, I sit down with senior FinOps manager Chitra Jadhav to explore what it truly takes to build a FinOps practice that lasts not just one that generates a list of recommendations nobody acts on.
Drawing on eight years of building FinOps programs from the ground up across six or more organizations, Chitra explains how governance, culture, and cross functional collaboration are the real foundations of cloud cost optimization and why FinOps is only as powerful as the trust and authority an organization is willing to give it.
From Architecture Review Boards to Production Readiness Reviews, this conversation unpacks how FinOps can embed itself into the engineering lifecycle before waste ever happens, and why the shift to AI spend makes getting those basics right more urgent than ever.
Here’s what we talked about:
Chapters:
00:47 Meet Chitra Jadhav
01:56 Why FinOps Matters
03:37 Starting From Scratch
03:52 Maturity Assessment Basics
04:48 Stakeholder Engagement Model
05:56 Where FinOps Reports
07:16 Defining Governance
08:14 FinOps Checkpoints ARB PRR
10:42 What Is an ARB
12:51 Running ARB Without Bloat
16:38 Shift Left to Optimization
18:22 Champion Model and Visibility
21:05 Authority Trust and Culture
25:29 Realistic Goals and Commitments
29:20 Beyond Native Recommendations AI
33:02 AI Spend and Future Wrap
🎧 Subscribe for more FinOps leadership conversations → https://www.finopsinaction.com/
Quote of the Show:
"Instead of paying that money and incurring that waste, you are taking some steps proactively by making sure that you are present at these discussions." - Chitra Jadhav
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