191: Sitting Down Together with Amy Tobey
July 15th, 2020 · 1 hr 8 mins
About this Episode
02:14 - Amy’s Superpower: Looking at a mess and seeing the potential for what it could be.
03:40 - Generalists vs Specialists
“The job description should describe the capabilities that the team needs, not that the individual needs.”
15:28 - Finding a “Beautiful” Mess in Technical Systems
“The biggest impediment to change is your users.” – Jessica
22:40 - Artisanal and Industrial Modes of Production
- Systems are indelibly stamped by the experience of the people who built them
28:25 - Design, Use, and Reliability
32:30 - Convincing Executives to Care About a Thing
- Now vs Later
- Where do we spend our attention to maximize value?
- Viable System Model
- Context Over Control / Communication Without Authority
41:08 - Whistleblowing is Good Because Misuse of Authority is Bad
51:33 - SRE (Site Reliability Engineering)
“The goal of SRE is to change the way your organization relates to the systems it runs.” – Rein
Reflections:
Jessica: Bonus question: Amy, why do you hate the word, “mature”?
Rein: “A problem is an abstraction extracted from a mess via analysis.” – Russel Ackoff
Amy: Models: We keep trying the same patterns and complaining about the same outcomes.
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