Confessions of an SRE Manager

Andrew Hatch

@hatchman76

whoami

22 years

3 years

10 years

DevOps Manager
Platform Engineering Manager
SRE Manager

why

	You won't sleep well every night.
	There can be a lot of emotional labor
	Humans are not perfectly rational creatures
	Perfect & simple work processes do not really exist
	Top-down directives don't always make complete sense

	When things go well they are awesome
	You can have a strong impact and be a force for good
	You love working with lots of people....
	...and seeing their careers grow

Management and Leadership

Management is about good processes that are efficient, measurable, guide teams with clear objectives and outcomes, demonstrating continuous value back to the business

Leadership is about cultivating an environment to generate innovative ideas, creativity and collaboration, which challenges the status quo and leads to step-change improvements delivering value back to the business

...so

The Management of Work

At best, a top-heavy bureaucracy is merely inefficient and annoying; at worst, it can introduce new safety hazards when it produces procedures that are insensitive to context and rigorously enforced.
[Still not Safe : R Wears, K Sutcliff]

Unplanned work

SRE anti-patterns

	Progress must always be visible, to you, your team, and your business
	SRE Managers need to do on-call shifts
	Learn from incidents as much as possible
	Kill wasteful work, gain more time to add value

Performance Management

Performance processes

For ICs

	Diversity & Inclusion are fundamental to success and trust
	Know how you are assessed, align your work
	Prioritize 1:1s. No exceptions. Communication is vital.
	Learn and build your skills

“Relationships are core to your job. If you think that you can [fulfill your responsibilities as a manager] without strong relationships, you are kidding yourself. - Kim Scott

Management Anti-Patterns

"If everyone in senior management is a cautious manager committed to the status quo, a brave revolutionary down below will always fail." John P. Kotter

	Learn from failure, understand work-as-done
	Get really, really organized. Inbox-zero must be your goal
	Ruthlessly guard your calendar
	Read, learn, adapt. There is always a better way

Thank you

https://srecon23.hatchman76.com

@hatchman76