Alert noise is no joke and neither is the fatigue that results from it. I spoke with Dan Ravenstone who gave a talk at Monitorama about this very topic.
He also happens to be an avid skateboarder!
Here are 9 takeaways from our conversation:
* Regularly Review and Update Monitoring Systems: Don’t set up monitoring once and forget about it. Continuously assess and update your monitoring systems to ensure they remain relevant and effective.
* Focus on Relevant Alerts: Ensure your alerting system is tailored to indicate real problems. Avoid relying on outdated criteria such as high CPU or memory usage unless they directly impact user experience.
* Adopt a User-Centric Approach: Develop alerts based on how issues affect the user experience rather than purely technical metrics. This helps prioritize what truly matters to the end user.
* Evaluate Alert Value: Critically assess each alert for its value. Ask whether the alert provides actionable information and if it impacts the user or business. Eliminate or adjust alerts that don’t meet these criteria.
* Reduce Alert Noise: Strive to minimize unnecessary alerts contributing to noise and obscure real issues. This makes it easier to detect and respond to genuine problems.
* Understand the User Journey: Document the user journey and create Service Level Objectives (SLOs) to align alerts with user-impacting events. This ensures alerts are meaningful and actionable.
* Secure Leadership Support: Gain buy-in from leadership by demonstrating the long-term benefits of an effective alerting system. Emphasize how it can improve user satisfaction and operational efficiency.
* Improve Documentation and Preparedness: Ensure thorough documentation for all systems and alerts. This reduces stress and increases efficiency, particularly for engineers handling on-call duties.
* Automate Alert Responses: Implement automation to handle routine alerts. This reduces the manual burden on engineers and allows them to focus on more complex issues.
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit read.srepath.com
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Cardiac Cowboys
The heart was always off-limits to surgeons. Cutting into it spelled instant death for the patient. That is, until a ragtag group of doctors scattered across the Midwest and Texas decided to throw out the rule book. Working in makeshift laboratories and home garages, using medical devices made from scavenged machine parts and beer tubes, these men and women invented the field of open heart surgery. Odds are, someone you know is alive because of them. So why has history left them behind? Presented by Chris Pine, CARDIAC COWBOYS tells the gripping true story behind the birth of heart surgery, and the young, Greatest Generation doctors who made it happen. For years, they competed and feuded, racing to be the first, the best, and the most prolific. Some appeared on the cover of Time Magazine, operated on kings and advised presidents. Others ended up disgraced, penniless, and convicted of felonies. Together, they ignited a revolution in medicine, and changed the world.
The Joe Rogan Experience
The official podcast of comedian Joe Rogan.