Move Fast ⚡ with Stabile Infrastructure 🛠️
Principles For Empowering Infrastructure / DevOps / SRE teamsHello there 👋
What follows is a set of principles that I believe are essential for empowering infrastructure / devops / SRE teams. These principles are based on my experience working with infrastructure teams at various companies and my own experience as a Head of Infra. We should not only focus on engineering aspects, but ask ourselves how we can bring value to the team, the company and the business.
I hope you find these principles helpful and I would love to hear your feedback.
Move Fast ⚡ with Stabile Infrastructure 🛠️
Explanation of the principles
The following explanations are based on my experience and the experience of others.
🔐 Security above all
Security is the most important thing. It is the foundation of everything we do. If we fail at security, the company fails!
👨💻 Everything is code
Everything is code. Everything is versioned. Everything is automated.
⛪️ The church of graphs
We believe in the power of graphs. We believe that graphs are the best way to understand the state of our systems. If it moves, we chart it. If it breaks, we chart it. If it’s slow, we chart it. If it’s fast, we chart it.
🔎 Invent and simplify
We expect and require innovation and always find new ways to simplify. We are externally aware, look for new ideas from everywhere and are not limited to “not invented here”. As we do these things, we accept that we may be misunderstood for long periods of time.
🧱 Improvements are made at the constraint
Any improvement made anywhere besides the constraint is an illusion.
🌎 Availability and integrity over velocity
We strive for the availability of our services. We lose value when we lose availability. We lose trust when we lose integrity.
💸 Be frugal
Nothing is free, especially infrastructure. We are frugal and we are always looking for ways to save money, man hours or tech debt.
🚀 Deliver results
In any business, results matter. Even when there are setbacks, we will rise to the challenge and won’t settle for anything less than the original desired outcome.
🏎️ Have bias for action and take risks
Speed matters in business. Many decisions and actions are reversible and do not need extensive study. We value calculated risk taking.
🏊♂️ Dive deep
We must function at all levels. We need to stay associated with all details, audit frequently, and ask questions when metrics and narratives differ.
🏗️ Build and teach
Our mission is to build things and teach others how to use them. We will teach a man to fish and build him a fishing rod if needed.
🚫 Do not manufacture debt
This was a problem for future me, and now I am future me.
🏆 Extreme ownership
We are builders but also owners. We think on a long-term basis and never rely on short-term results alone. We not only act on behalf of ourselves and the team, but for the entire company.
🤝 Managers of one
We do not believe in micromanagement. We are managers of one.
📚 Learn and be curious
We should never stop learning. We must continue to seek self-improvement at all times, and remain curious about new possibilities and push ourselves to explore them.
🧠 Think BIG
Create and communicate boldly. Search for ways to maintain high standards and to make things better. We are never done.
🤝 Earn trust
Trust is vital in any team and company. We must be attentive, speak candidly, and listen to the advice of those around us. We are honest with employees and are not afraid to discuss matters in which we may lack knowledge.
🦴 Have backbone, disagree and commit
We respectfully challenge decisions when we disagree with them, even when doing so is uncomfortable or exhausting. Compromise for the sake of social cohesion won’t bring positive results to the team and the company.
🐝 Swarm like a bumble bee
We are never alone and we always hand out a helping hand when we see colleagues in trouble. We are a team and we are stronger together.