Making of the SRE Omelette
Wondering what an omelette has to do with SRE (Site Reliability Engineering)?
It’s based on the analogy that culture is the outcome of what we do - so in the context of the chicken or the egg, it’s like an omelette. And that’s how this podcast was born: Making of the SRE Omelette.
This show explores how the practice of SRE can help organizations achieve positive business and client success outcomes.
- Season 1 focused on culture—because reliability isn’t just about systems, it’s about people.
- Season 2 explored Reliable Sustainability—how SRE practices can help organizations deliver reliability today while building a sustainable future.
- Season 3 is all about Resilience—not just resilient systems, but resilient teams and resilient ways of working. Because resilience is what helps us adapt, respond, and thrive through adversity.
Much like an avid chef who brings their own unique flair to a classic recipe, the art of SRE lies in thoughtfully adapting industry best practices to fit the distinct culture, needs, and goals of your team and organization. This podcast is designed to inspire thoughtful experimentation and encourage personalization—empowering you to forge your own path toward greater reliability, resilience, and long-term success.
Join us on this journey to surface the ingredients that help drive business and client success through SRE.
Listen on:
Episodes
Wednesday Dec 21, 2022
Wednesday Dec 21, 2022
Crystal ball shows that the future of SRE is with AI & ML, having self monitoring, self healing, self managing and self optimizing. Essentially autopilot of operations. While we all appreciate and look forward to that, many people are not sure of the difference between automation and AI. If we all have tasks driven by automation... is that AIOps or is the AI of the future more than that?To help us demystify AI and AIOps is Isabell Sippli. Isabell is the STSM at IBM AIOps and she has fielded many of those questions in her journey to enable clients with AIOps.Timestamps:[00:00 - 00:27] AIOps differentiator[13:19 - 17:44] How to embrace AIOps[17:45 - 19:53] Future of AIOps[23:43 - 24:04] Isabelle's ingredient and recipe to embrace AIOps
Tuesday Oct 04, 2022
Tuesday Oct 04, 2022
SRE was created by Google to balance prioritization of features needed for reliability and operations against others - like that shinny new product feature. However, just because we say we embrace SRE culture, mindset or have an SRE team, doesn't mean this problem is magically solved.Ron Baker, IBM Distinguished Engineer of SRE Operations in Sustainability Software shares how he successfully negotiated and drove this balance and deliver on SRE features.Timestamps:[00:00 - 00:59] Intro to the episode[01:17 - 02:14] What SRE means to Ron[02:28 - 03:30] Ron shares what success in SRE looks like[04:02 - 08:44] Solving the prioritization problem[09:01 - 10:31] Connecting risk with emotions[10:53 - 14:04] How Ron drives SRE features to reality once prioritization is tackled[14:32 - 16:52] Words of wisdom for those in SRE professions[18:00 - 20:24] Where SRE needs to go to stay competitive and help solve problems[21:33 - 21:53] Ron's ingredient and recipe for the SRE Omelette
Tuesday Sep 27, 2022
Tuesday Sep 27, 2022
Supply Chain has become a household term during the pandemic - this is because issues in supply chain has led to disruptions for consumer goods or even chicken sandwich - as Marshall pointed out in his blog post here (https://devopslamb.wordpress.com/2020/12/30/disaster-recovery-for-supply-chains/)I'm joined by Marshall Lamb, Distinguished Engineer and CTO of Sterling, IBM Sustainability Software to discuss what a resilient supply chain looks like, how to build it and its relationship with SRE. Marshall also shares his guidance for practitioners interested in the supply chain industry and ingredients organizations should embrace to building resilient solutions.Timestamps:[00:00 - 00:54] Intro to the episode[01:06 - 03:30] Marshall shares the chicken sandwich story[04:41 - 10:31] What SRE means to Marshal from a supply chain perspective[18:27 - 24:52] What "good enough" looks like in supply chain now, and is it changing?[25:26 - 30:45] Marshall's words of wisdom to those interested in a supply chain related profession[33:01 - 35:43] Marshall's ingredient and recipe for the SRE Omelette
Wednesday Aug 31, 2022
Wednesday Aug 31, 2022
Stacy Joines - IBM Fellow, VP and CTO in IBM WW Team for Global Markets shares her distinguished field experiences on driving client success for special events and peak shopping season like the US Cyber Monday. Stacy describes what it takes to make SRE outcome real, achieve the business and client success, and how to influence the prioritization to make it happen.Timestamps:[00:00 - 01:07] Intro to the episode[01:29 - 07:10] IT culture: Through the cloud movement, hyper-scaling movement, etc.[07:27 - 09:20] An example of a constant state of readiness[10:21 - 13:25] The biggest driver for SRE[13:41 - 18:52] Word's of wisdom for current and next gen SRE professionals[22:49 - 25:07] Stacy's ingredient and recipe for the SRE Omelette
Tuesday Jun 28, 2022
Tuesday Jun 28, 2022
MP English - host of Google's SRE Prodcast takes the audience through what it's like being an SRE at Google. MP describes the meaning of SRE to them, how it has evolved at Google, how success is measured and how people reinforce the culture and show appreciation to each other. MP also gives advice for practitioners interested in the Site Reliability Engineering profession and the path for success.Timestamps:[00:30 - 00:52] Intro to episode[01:00 - 01:52] MP's role at Google[02:19 - 04:20] MP shares what SRE is at Google[04:56 - 07:23] From problem-solving to organization: How has SRE evolved at Google[09:51 - 12:43] How to measure the success of SRE at Google[15:22 - 18:32] Method's of recognition for those who put in the effort ensuring no disruption[19:20 - 22:37] Advice to those interested in the SRE profession[25:36 - 27:46] MP's ingredient and recipe for driving the SRE mindset
Wednesday Jun 22, 2022
Wednesday Jun 22, 2022
Innovation is core to organizational success and SRE. Steven Astorino, IBM VP of Development for Data & AI and the IBM Canada Lab Director describes the journey he took to accelerate innovation at IBM - Area 631. Steven shares the problems he observed, how he solved them and highlights the success from the program. The program started in IBM Toronto lab and has since grown to 8 other IBM lab locations. Steven also gives an innovation shout out to Site Reliability Engineers and recipe to accelerate innovation at the enterprise.Timestamps:[00:19 - 01:14] Intro to episode[01:24 - 04:22] What Are 631 is, and what problems hoping for Are 631 to solve[04:39 - 05:58] Some successes that have come out of Area 631[07:58 - 09:29] The value of Area 631 from a business and tech perspective[10:09 - 11:06] Steven shares his thoughts on the next set of innovations needed by SRE[11:37 - 13:02] Steven's ingredient and recipe to foster innovation at the workplace
Tuesday May 17, 2022
Tuesday May 17, 2022
Rama Akkiraju, IBM Fellow and CTO of IBM AIOps takes the audience through how AIOps can help companies achieve the SRE outcome of meeting SLO and having reliable services. Rama shares the recipe for companies to embrace SRE and gives us a glimpse into the future of SRE with AIOps.Timestamps:[00:26 - 00:51] Intro to the episode[01:01 - 01:47] What AIOps is[02:08 - 04:44] The benefits of AIOps, and the relationship between AIOps and SRE[05:12 - 13:26] Challenges customers face that prevented them from getting out of reactive mode[14:10 - 20:58] Where AIOps needs to be moving forward[23:58 - 28:30] Words of wisdom for when you are looking to embrace SRE and AIOps
Friday Mar 25, 2022
Friday Mar 25, 2022
Kareem Yusuf, GM of IBM AI Applications and Blockchain tells the story behind the SRE Omelette. He gives the audience insights into why SRE is essential in delivering meaningful services to customers and describes how he measures ROI (Return on Investment) for SRE. Kareem also shares his thoughts on challenges SRE need to tackle next and gives us his recipe for the SRE Omelette.Timestamps:[02:30 - 03:58] The Omelette[04:24 - 06:35] What SRE means to Kareem and his customers[07:02 - 11:07] Kareem on prioritization[13:11 - 17:34] Measuring the ROI in SRE[19:05 - 23:36] What does our future hold?[23:53 - 28:54] Kareems ingredient and recipe for the SRE omelette