The Kubernetes ecosystem offers an unprecedented array of tools, platforms, and solutions for container orchestration and cloud-native development. While this breadth of choice allows end-users with flexibility and customization options, it also presents a significant challenge causes decision fatigue.

This talk covers the key decision points in building application-ready Kubernetes, from cluster deployment tools to autoscaling configurations. Based on real-world examples, attendees will learn:

* Recommended project structure for cluster management
* Deployment tooling selection
* Autoscaling optimization
* Application configuration standardization
* Observability stack configuration

Each decision covered includes trade-off analysis, and implementation guidelines derived from production experiences, enabling teams to accelerate their path to a production-ready Kubernetes platform.

At the end of this talk you would be able to effectively deploy reproducible, well-configured, and application-ready Kubernetes clusters.

Benefits to the ecosystem:

Provisioning a cluster is not just its control-plane and nodes. To make a cluster ready-to-use for actual application deployment, users have to decide which tool to use to enable specific capabilities, such as: application networking, autoscaling, security controls, storage integration, and many more. Those tooling can be anything from CNCF project such as: KEDA for autoscaling, Cilium for networking, ArgoCD for GitOps delivery, or even vendor provided addons.

This talk accelerates Kubernetes adoption and promotes the use of complementary CNCF projects by providing clear, practical guidance for deploying cluster capabilities, helping end-users minimize decision-making while leveraging the broader cloud-native ecosystem.

At the end, attendees will leave with a good understanding of the foundational tooling they should have, and when they should explore other implementations