Waitstaff’s Advice to the Modern SRE

Waiting tables is very customer oriented. How can we applied these customer skills to SRE in a way that makes sense, enhances systems, and makes the teams we work with successful?

Transcript

1. Waitstaff’s Advice to the Modern SRE Ramin Khatibi, @ramin_dk
2. Ramin = Restaurants { [ Cook, Waiter, Bartender, Trainer ]}, Tech { [ Tech Support, Net Eng, Sysadmin, SRE ]} Been waiting 25 years to make this slide
3. Restaurants are the superior tech analogy • Queues • Context Switches • Backend/Frontend • Contention • SLAs, Back Pressure • Even has XP proponents My Pet Theory: Restaurants > Cars
4. “Your Manhattan is in a pint glass because I have 200 pint glasses and 5 Manhattan glasses." “We have everything on the menu tonight except the pot pie and cheesecake” “Coffee drinks will be out very soon.” Bin packing! Out of resources! Full queues!
5. Your order = { 2x Chix { w/mozz -mayo } HD {} -rel,tom +hot } ChzFF {} } Learn to Code, Take Orders
6. Waitstaff Advice: You run your tables, don’t let them run you. It’s cool, you can leave now
7. SRE Advice: Do work to preserve your time. Set expectations. Make a plan. command aws-cli create time not found
8. Waitstaff Advice: Your system is a black box to most customers, you’ll have to walk them through it. Everything is a skill, even ordering lunch
9. SRE Advice: Docs. So so many docs. Background, onboarding, caveats, etc. And processes. And doc your processes so you know it too
10. Waitstaff Advice: Communication makes all the difference. Okay to disappoint, not to surprise
11. SRE Advice: System feedback, meetings, emails, tickets, instant messages, , roadmaps, and hundreds of other things are all communication. Use them, use them all.
12. Waitstaff Advice: You’ve sampled everything, use that to help your customer make a reasonable decision. Does my table complain after pot pies?
13. SRE Advice: You’ve sampled everything, use that to help your customer make a reasonable decision. A reasonable and informed decision
14. Advice: Complex systems are a team sport. You must be able to ask for, receive, and give assistance. Bartender, server, buser, host, runner
15. Thanks for having me! Ramin Khatibi, @ramin_dk Questions?