Data center operations are evolving rapidly to address growing pressures regarding performance, energy efficiency, and resilience. This roundtable discussion explores the balance between hands-on operational practices and the rise of automation, without overlooking the very real challenges of maintaining and modernizing existing infrastructure. To what extent can we standardize and automate without losing control on the ground? Is retrofitting a strategic opportunity or a necessary constraint? A candid discussion to examine everyday practices, limitations, and trade-offs. ● Day-to-day operations: hands-on approaches, a field-oriented culture, and the dissemination of best practices in the face of growing complexity ● Operations automation: promises, real gains, and risk areas ● Maintenance: from preventive to predictive, balancing costs, availability, and incident management ● Retrofit: modernizing without disruption, but not without constraints ● Human vs. machine: what skills do operations teams need?