Leaving the Nest: Guidelines, guardrails, and human error
A presentation at Failover Conf 2: Fail Smarter by Laura Santamaria
Leaving the Nest: Guidelines, guardrails, and human error Laura Santamaria, Developer Advocate, @nimbinatus | #FailoverConf Photo by Mrg Simon on Unsplash
@nimbinatus | #FailoverConf Human error
@nimbinatus | #FailoverConf Blame
@nimbinatus | #FailoverConf It’s okay to mess up… we’re human. Photo by Jason Yuen on Unsplash
@nimbinatus | #FailoverConf Failed process and mitigation
@nimbinatus | #FailoverConf Framework: Guidelines and Guardrails
@nimbinatus | #FailoverConf Guidelines Photo by Chris on Unsplash
@nimbinatus | #FailoverConf Guides, processes, and shared experience
@nimbinatus | #FailoverConf Photo by Miguel Alcântara on Unsplash
@nimbinatus | #FailoverConf Automation, alerts, and verification
@nimbinatus | #FailoverConf Effectiveness increases with earlier deployment Photo by Joel Thorner on Unsplash
@nimbinatus | #FailoverConf Failure mode
@nimbinatus | #FailoverConf Rushing to respond
@nimbinatus | #FailoverConf Guidelines ignored; guardrails too brittle
@nimbinatus | #FailoverConf Just like a habit Photo by Patrick Hendry on Unsplash
@nimbinatus | #FailoverConf Establish them early
@nimbinatus | #FailoverConf Be consistent
@nimbinatus | #FailoverConf Maintain them
@nimbinatus | #FailoverConf Trust your guidelines and guardrails, but remember…
@nimbinatus | #FailoverConf …we are still only human. (Thanks) https://nimbinatus.com https://logdna.com Photo by James Ting on Unsplash
When we talk about reliable systems, we talk a lot about human error. Human error in an incident or a bug report is often treated with a bit of a facepalm reaction. The term masks a lot of scenarios from accidents to exhaustion to everything in between. However, human error helps us understand where our processes failed and how we can prevent the same error from happening again. In short, we need to think in terms of a framework of guidelines and guardrails. In this short talk, let’s discuss how guidelines like runbooks and guardrails like automation can help us address the fact that everyone will, at some point, make mistakes.
Video
Buzz and feedback
Here’s what was said about this presentation on social media.
