On-Calliday: Un-sucking Your On-Call Experience

Transcript

1. On-Calliday: Un-sucking Your On-Call Experience Amanda Folson Developer Advocate @

   GitLab

2. Amanda Folson Developer Advocate @ GitLab [email protected]

3. Who’s on call?

4. Why does being on call suck? • No sleep •

   Too many distractions • Too little time • Tethered to your phone/laptop • Exhaustion

5. It Can Be Better!

6. Burnout Caution Needing to prove yourself, feeling you don’t provide

   value, working harder, difficult to switch off Warning Start to ignore needs like sleeping/eating, reduced social interactions, panic, loss of interest in family/hobbies Danger Behavioral changes, cynicism, drugs/alcohol, promiscuousness, aggression, worthlessness/hopelessness, on autopilot Emergency Inner emptiness, more risk-taking, depression, suicide

7. Burnout Caution Needing to prove yourself, feeling you don’t provide

   value, working harder, difficult to switch off Warning Start to ignore needs like sleeping/eating, reduced social interactions, panic, loss of interest in family/hobbies Danger Behavioral changes, cynicism, drugs/alcohol, promiscuousness, aggression, worthlessness/hopelessness, on autopilot Emergency Inner emptiness, more risk-taking, depression, suicide

8. Burnout Caution Needing to prove yourself, feeling you don’t provide

   value, working harder, difficult to switch off Warning Start to ignore needs like sleeping/eating, reduced social interactions, panic, loss of interest in family/hobbies Danger Behavioral changes, cynicism, drugs/alcohol, promiscuousness, aggression, worthlessness/hopelessness, on autopilot Emergency Inner emptiness, more risk-taking, depression, suicide

9. Burnout Caution Needing to prove yourself, feeling you don’t provide

   value, working harder, difficult to switch off Warning Start to ignore needs like sleeping/eating, reduced social interactions, panic, loss of interest in family/hobbies Danger Behavioral changes, cynicism, drugs/alcohol, promiscuousness, aggression, worthlessness/hopelessness, on autopilot Emergency Inner emptiness, more risk-taking, depression, suicide

10. Burnout Caution Needing to prove yourself, feeling you don’t provide

    value, working harder, difficult to switch off Warning Start to ignore needs like sleeping/eating, reduced social interactions, panic, loss of interest in family/hobbies Danger Behavioral changes, cynicism, drugs/alcohol, promiscuousness, aggression, worthlessness/hopelessness, on autopilot Emergency Inner emptiness, more risk-taking, depression, suicide

11. Burnout Happens in Tech • Caused by high-stress environments •

    Caused by not having basic needs met ◦ NEVER underestimate the value of sleep ◦ Water is also pretty important • Caused by emphasis on performance ◦ Fear of underperforming ◦ Not taking vacation • Sedentary lifestyle (often found in tech!) can exacerbate the problem
12. None

13. On Call Burnout

14. Preparation is Key • Keep your laptop charged • Keep

    your MiFi charged • Keep a spare battery pack in your backpack • Toss an energy drink and a small snack in your bag • Bring cables you may need

15. Reduce Stress • Pay important bills • Run errands •

    Set yourself up for an easier work week if possible ◦ Do the hard stuff now instead of later ◦ Don’t put off the boring/hard tasks until the last minute

16. Forgetting You’re On Shift • It happens more than you

    think. • RELAX! • If your bag is packed and you have cell reception, you’re probably okay. • If reception = false, get to a place that has it

17. How do we make life easier in-house?

18. Step One: Set better schedules!

19. Starting/Ending Rotations • Start and end rotations during the day

    • Midweek • NEVER start/end on weekends • DO NOT START ON A HOLIDAY ◦ Avoid scheduling people on holidays at all if possible ◦ Share the load

20. VACATION

21. Step Two: Select the right shift length

22. Common Shift Lengths • 8 hours • 12 hours •

    24 hours • 168 hours/1 week

23. 8-hour Shifts

24. 12-hour Shifts

25. None

26. 24-hour Shifts

27. 168-hour Shifts/1 Week Shifts

28. What rotation should I use?

29. Week+Weekends

30. Scheduling Overrides “No battle plan survives first contact with the

    enemy.” Roughly translated from the thesis of Helmuth von Moltke the Elder

31. Step Three: Don’t Make the Pain in Vain

32. Make Your Data Count!

33. Tooling Matters!

34. Step Four: Keep Staff Sharp

35. Incident Response http://www.blackrock3.com/

36. You write it, you wear it.

37. Thank You! Amanda Folson [email protected] @AmbassadorAwsum