Making of the SRE Omelette

Episode 2 - Reliable Sustainability

Sustainability is no longer just an ambition, over the last few years, we’re starting to see companies actively doing things and changing their behaviours to be more sustainable.Suzanne Livingston, VP of Development & Reliability Engineering at IBM Sustainability Software takes the audience through the journey of building a solution that is reliable and sustainable from day one. She also shares insights on why Sustainability is the focus of companies today, success stories with customers she has worked with and what IBM is doing to help their customers to achieve sustainability goals. Lastly, Suzanne gives practical advices on how companies and organization can get started right away and take steps closer to realizing their sustainability goals.Things to listen for[01:48 - 03:44] Suzanne's role[04:09 - 11:00] What sustainability means to Suzanne[11:38 - 15:11] Why now?[15:29 - 21:39] How IBM is helping companies to achieve their sustainability goals[22:13 - 24:09] How to get started[25:01 - 28:38] How to drive innovation in sustainability[29:11 - 30:02] Suzanne's ingredient and recipe for companies to achieve their sustainability goals

Episode 1 - Sustainability Explained

If you’re listening for the first time and wonder what does an Omelette has to do with SRE - it is based on the analogy that Culture is the outcome of what we do - so in the context of the chicken or the egg. It is like an Omelette.In season 1 of the show, we focused the culture and practice to achieve the reliability engineering outcome. Season two is all about how the practice of Site Reliability Engineering can play a big part in helping and leading us to a more sustainable future.Sustainability is a popular topic these days - but what exactly is Sustainability? What is this ESG thing? And why the buzz now? Join us to demystify Sustainability and kick off Season 2 is Christina Shim.Christina explains sustainability as leaving the planet better than we are now - meet today's needs and also making sure demands of tomorrow can be met as well. She explains the ESG framework and goes to highlight we shouldn't let the conversation stop at what fits into the bucket of ESG.Christina has a set of call to actions for all of us to take at the personal, team and organization level to make a difference now. Listen in as we take on the pledge to arrive at a more sustainable future.IBM 2022 Impact Report --> https://www.ibm.com/impact/2022-ibm-impact-reportThings to listen for:[01:58 - 04:51] Christina's journey that led her to the impactful role[06:15 - 10:48] Sustainability Explained[11:47 - 14:25] What is ESG?[15:23 - 18:01] Why now?[18:15 - 19:33] Do companies only act because of regulations?[19:56 - 21:01] Would consumers buy a sustainability product if it is more expensive?[21:22 - 21:56] The sustainable future[22:15 - 25:54] How to get started?[26:52 - 27:50] Christina's Sustainability Omelette

Season 2 - Reliable Sustainability Preview

Preview of season 2 of the Making of the SRE Omelette podcast.Sustainability is front and center of many conversations today - from boardroom to living rooms. But does being sustainable simply mean reducing carbon footprint or does it mean more?In season 2 of the podcast, we will talk to experts to understand the meaning of sustainability, the outcome we should be targeting. And how the practice of Site Reliability Engineering can help and lead us to achieve those outcomes.So join Kevin and his guests as they crack some plant based eggs, add some ESG and turn sustainability ambition into reality.

Episode 17 - SRE for Managers

Marion provides advice for managers and leaders to create a safe environment to foster innovation and teamwork with a diverse team in this episode - and a creative way to tackle technical debt.Managers provide leadership, support and mentorship to their teams - they help employees reach their goals and shelter them from unnecessary distractions to help them focus. Marion shares with the SRE community challenges she has observed from her team, as well as issues experienced as a manager - including much more toil.Marion gives perspectives of an effective team and what can be done to assemble and maintain it. In addition, advices for how practitioners can balance maintaining SLA/SLO, backlogs and keeping up with education and trends in the industry for career progression.Lastly, Marion summarizes with a fantastic recipe for the SRE Omelette for a well managed SRE team.Things to listen for:[01:51 - 04:43] Marion's career journey[05:15 - 08:15] What led to the manager role[09:01 - 12:02] Toil in the manager role[14:00 - 16:13] Marion talk about team's challenge[16:35 - 18:35] Challenge as a manager[20:03 - 23:24] Composition of an effective team[24:06 - 26:15] Recognizing people who prevented fires[26:25 - 29:22] What it means to be a good manager[30:16 - 34:51] How to help the team with building their skills[35:13 - 38:54] How to get into the profession[41:08 - 46:18] The future of SRE[46:43 - 48:57] Marion's ingredient and recipe for SRE Omelette

Episode 16 - Bonus episode with Kyle on Recipe for Plant based Denver Omelette

In this bonus episode, Kyle shares his secret ingredient to make Omelette or anything taste extra great. As well as his two favorite styles of Omelette and their recipe.

Episode 16 - Reliability Engineering

This episode is about transforming SRE into how we do business and incorporate Reliability Engineering into the process of building products and features. Kyle Brown, IBM Fellow, VP, CTO for the CIO join us in this episode to talk about this mindset shift.Kyle discusses how Reliability Engineering can be considered in the entire solution lifecycle, how to get there and what it looks like. Kyle also shares his insights for engineers to progress in their career and where Reliability Engineering will become in the future.Lastly, as an avid chef, Kyle also shares with us recipe for a real Omelette in a bonus episode!Things to listen for:[01:31 - 05:04] What SRE means to Kyle[05:42 - 11:17] Reliability Engineering is a life cycle effort[11:57 - 15:50] Kyle's take on Non-Functional-Requirements[22:04 - 26:02] Would we get to self-running business?[26:54 - 33:19] How to get started to get to the SRE culture[33:38 - 40:46] Kyle's insights for growing your career[41:44 - 44:51] Kyle recipe for the SRE Omelette

Episode 15 - The three-legged stool of SRE

A three-legged stool will not wobble and is stable even on an uneven surface. In this episode, we listen to three Site Reliability Engineers working together to deliver client and business success. Abhay Choudhary, Andrew Lindsay, and Ashley Tate share their journeys that led to the roles they're in today in Data Science, Observability and Automation. The three disciplines resemble a three-legged stool that enables a stable progression for improving solution reliability. Conversations also took us to what they enjoy the most about their jobs and what they'd prefer to do less of. Abhay, Andrew and Ashley also share with the audience their tips to get started in the SRE profession and ingredients to achieve the SRE outcome.Things to Listen for:[02:55 - 06:23] Andrew, Abhay and Ashley's journey that led them to the current role[06:43 - 13:46] Abhay, Ashley and Andrew sharing what they enjoy the most about what they do[13:58 - 18:44] Andrew, Ashley and Abhay sharing what they like to do less of[19:17 - 21:04] Abhay's ah-ha moment for data science[21:41 - 23:03] Andrew's ah-ha moment for observability[23:51 - 25:43] Ashley's ah-ha moment - art of asking for help[26:35 - 30:35] Ashley, Andrew and Abhay's tip for people getting into SRE[31:08 - 33:28] The SRE Omelette ingredient and recipe from Andrew, Abhay and Ashley

Episode 14 - There is no SRE without Team

SRE is a team sport - without assists from team members, business and client successes would not be possible. Bill shares how we can be successful via learning, knowing the indicators to ask for help and how to foster an environment where people feel safe to ask for help. Lastly, his ingredient and recipe on building a high performing team. Listen in to Bill and let's level up on your teamwork!Things to Listen for:[03:58 - 05:56] Bill's Teamwork make AI work story[08:44 - 10:48] The art of learning[11:49 - 16:11] Art of asking for help[17:03 - 18:57] Culture to foster environment that is safe to ask for help[19:56 - 24:40] What makes a great team[27:57 - 31:12] Ingredient and recipe for teamwork