Slight Reliability

Stephen Townshend

Learning SRE, one day at a time.

  1. Staying Motivated as a Leader with Cads Oakley (Episode 120)

    HÁ 3 DIAS

    Staying Motivated as a Leader with Cads Oakley (Episode 120)

    Send us Fan Mail As an engineer you get constant dopamine hits by solving technical problems. As a leader you're often working toward long term goals that span months or years. How do you stay motivated in that context? This week I'm joined by technology leader and fellow Aucklander Cads Oakley. We cover... 🐆 Don't chase the result, harvest the learning 🏆 The payoff for being a leader 🎁 Giving feedback and giving others permission to give it to you 💉 The role of dopamine 🤷 How much control do we really have in our work? ...and much more. You can find Cads on... LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/cadsoakley/ Website: https://aurelia.nz/ Content mentioned during the episode... Cads' article on the role of dopamine: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/managing-dopamine-mind-cædman-cads-oakley/ "Happy" by Derren Brown https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/30142270-happy What Got You Here Won't Get You There by Marshall Goldsmith https://www.amazon.com.au/dp/1401301304 You can buy Slight Reliability merch here (Note: you cannot order the mugs outside of New Zealand): https://slightreliability.digitees.co.nz/ You can find Stephen on: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stephentownshend/ Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/slightreliability.bsky.social YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/SlightReliability Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/slight_reliability/ TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@the_kiwi_sre

    37 min
  2. A Beginner's Guide to SRE (Episode 119)

    24 DE MAR.

    A Beginner's Guide to SRE (Episode 119)

    Send us Fan Mail This week I repurpose a talk I just did at the JuniorDev meetup in Auckland. If you're new to SRE or observability then this is the talk for you. For the more seasoned listeners, it's a chance to see how my perspective and understanding has changed over the years. In the episode I refer to the This Is Fine! podcast on resilience engineering: https://www.thisisfinepod.com/ You can read the Google SRE books for free online here: https://sre.google/books/ You can buy Slight Reliability merch here (Note: you cannot order the mugs outside of New Zealand): https://slightreliability.digitees.co.nz/ You can find Stephen on: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stephentownshend/ Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/slightreliability.bsky.social YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/SlightReliability Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/slight_reliability/ TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@the_kiwi_sre

    25 min
  3. Freeing Observability Data Hostages with Jacob Leverich (Episode 118)

    10 DE MAR.

    Freeing Observability Data Hostages with Jacob Leverich (Episode 118)

    Send us Fan Mail How do you ingest and store petabytes of telemetry every day in a cost effective and high performing way? How can you do this in a way which gives engineers the operational data they need to keep services running? How has this challenge be tackled in the past and what's been the evolution? This week I'm joined by Observe co-founder Jacob Leverich to go deep into this topic. We discuss... 💾 A deep-dive into the evolution of telemetry storage and where it's going 💽 The advent of generic storage that handles metrics, logs, and traces well 🫶 Having empathy for people who need great observability but struggle to obtain it 🤲 Not holding telemetry data hostage ✍️ Lessons from 8 years of running a start-up ...and much more. You can find Jacob on... LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jacob-leverich/ And find out more about Observe here: https://www.observeinc.com/ In the episode Jacob referred to Google's Dremel analysis platform: https://research.google/pubs/dremel-interactive-analysis-of-web-scale-datasets-2/ And Apache Iceberg: https://iceberg.apache.org/ You can buy Slight Reliability merch here (Note: you cannot order the mugs outside of New Zealand): https://slightreliability.digitees.co.nz/ You can find Stephen on: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stephentownshend/ Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/slightreliability.bsky.social YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/SlightReliability Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/slight_reliability/ TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@the_kiwi_sre

    43 min
  4. How to Change the World with Rob Roe (Episode 117)

    24 DE FEV.

    How to Change the World with Rob Roe (Episode 117)

    Send us Fan Mail How do you take all the utopian ideas you read about in books and apply them to the reality of the organisations we work in? This week I'm joined by leader, mentor, and coach Rob Roe to tackle this question. We discuss... 🌪️ The pitfalls of functional silos 🤫 Is the annual budget a load of rubbish? 🍃 How our management promotion systems are often broken 🫂 The power of virtual teams 📗 Team interaction models ...and much more. You can find Rob on... LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/robinsonroe/ References from the episode: Rob's YouTube channel "Unlocking Change": https://www.youtube.com/@unlockingchange Action Inquiry by Bill Torbert: https://gla.global/the-glp/action-inquiry/ Seven Transformations of Leadership: https://hbr.org/2005/04/seven-transformations-of-leadership Trademe Team Topologies case study: https://teamtopologies.com/industry-examples/trade-me-journey-towards-a-thinnest-viable-platform You can buy Slight Reliability merch here (Note: you cannot order the mugs outside of New Zealand): https://slightreliability.digitees.co.nz/ You can find Stephen on: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stephentownshend/ Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/slightreliability.bsky.social YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/SlightReliability Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/slight_reliability/ TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@the_kiwi_sre

    34 min
  5. Human Software with Richard Bown (Episode 116)

    10 DE FEV.

    Human Software with Richard Bown (Episode 116)

    Send us Fan Mail We spend a third of our life at work. It needs to be something we enjoy and something with purpose. Our work experience also impacts our family, friends, and our personal lives. This week I'm joined by tech engineer, leader, and author Richard Bown to explore this and many other topics including... 🌪️ The difficulty in applying the ideas we read in books in real organisations 🤫 When you want to implement a thing you can't talk directly about the thing 🍃 Does change require senior leadership? Can it be grassroots? 🫂 The importance of looking after yourself at work 📗 The experience of publishing a novel ...and much more. You can find Richard's book "Human Software - A Life in I.T" here: https://humansoftwarebook.com/ ...and you can find Richard on... LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/richard-bown/ References from the episode (excluding some of the TV shows we mentioned): Rosegarden Linux music composition editing environment: https://www.rosegardenmusic.com/ Managing Humans by Michael Lopp: https://www.oreilly.com/library/view/managing-humans-biting/9781430243144/ Rands leadership Slack: https://randsinrepose.com/welcome-to-rands-leadership-slack/ The Goal by Eliyahu Goldratt: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/113934.The_Goal Local Hero (1983): https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0085859/ Turn the Ship Around! by David Marquet: https://davidmarquet.com/books/turn-the-ship-around-book/ Scrivener (book writing tool): https://scrivener.app/ You can buy Slight Reliability merch here (Note: you cannot order the mugs outside of New Zealand): https://slightreliability.digitees.co.nz/ You can find Stephen on: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stephentownshend/ Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/slightreliability.bsky.social YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/SlightReliability Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/slight_reliability/ TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@the_kiwi_sre

    32 min
  6. Leadership Gym with Xiao Zhang (Episode 115)

    27 DE JAN.

    Leadership Gym with Xiao Zhang (Episode 115)

    Send us Fan Mail When you become a people leader there is no manual. How can we not only learn leadership skills but practice them and build leadership muscle? This week I'm joined by Orion Group Limited co-founder Xiao Zhang to discuss... 👑 The challenge of transitioning into people leadership 💪 How we don't get fit by watching other people work out ⌚ Pausing as an act of active leadership 🌌 The power of slack time for creativity and systems thinking 🌊 Going below the waterline ...and much more. You can find Xiao on: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/xiao-zhang-nz/ You can find Orion Group Limited here: https://www.oriongrouplimited.com/ Xiao mentioned Brené Brown's new book Strong Ground https://brenebrown.com/book/strong-ground/ I mentioned The Phoenix Project by Gene Kim, Kevin Behr and George Spafford https://itrevolution.com/product/the-phoenix-project/ I couldn't find the article on slack time but this is pretty good: https://buildrightside.com/problem-upgrade-chart You can buy Slight Reliability merch here (Note: you cannot order the mugs outside of New Zealand): https://slightreliability.digitees.co.nz/ You can find Stephen on: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stephentownshend/ Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/slightreliability.bsky.social YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/SlightReliability Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/slight_reliability/ TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@the_kiwi_sre

    33 min
  7. Starting a New Role (Episode 114)

    13 DE JAN.

    Starting a New Role (Episode 114)

    Send us Fan Mail This week I kick off the 2026 season with some news and we explore how to prepare for a new role. You can buy Slight Reliability merch here (Note: you cannot order the mugs outside of New Zealand): https://slightreliability.digitees.co.nz/ You can find Stephen on: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stephentownshend/ Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/slightreliability.bsky.social YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/SlightReliability Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/slight_reliability/ TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@the_kiwi_sre

    11 min
  8. AI Use-cases for SRE with Shmuel Kliger (Episode 113)

    16/12/2025

    AI Use-cases for SRE with Shmuel Kliger (Episode 113)

    Send us Fan Mail From the day we invented computers we've been struggling to keep applications running and delivering services to the business. Is this latest wave of AI helping or hurting us? This week I'm joined by Causely founder Shmuel Kliger to dive into... 🌊 The three waves of AI hype over the decades (the history of AI) ☠️ The dangers of over-promising and under-delivering what AI can do 🧠 What is causal reasoning? 😱 Is AI replacing SREs? 🔮 AI as a way to allow humans to solve higher level problems ...and much more. You can find Shmuel on: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/shmuel-kliger-1a91963/ You can find Causely here: https://www.causely.ai/ Shmuel mentioned 'The Book of Why' by Judea Pearl and Dana McKenzie which can be found here: https://www.amazon.com.au/dp/046509760X You can buy Slight Reliability merch here (Note: you cannot order the mugs outside of New Zealand): https://slightreliability.digitees.co.nz/ You can find Stephen on: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stephentownshend/ Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/slightreliability.bsky.social YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/SlightReliability Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/slight_reliability/ TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@the_kiwi_sre

    32 min
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Sobre

Learning SRE, one day at a time.

Informações

  • Criado por
    Stephen Townshend
  • Anos de atividade
    2021 - 2026
  • Episódios
    122
  • Classificação
    Livre
  • Copyright
    © 2026 Slight Reliability
  • Site do podcast
    Slight Reliability

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