Slight Reliability

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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

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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

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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

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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

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What is operational intelligence and how is it different from observability or BI?

This week I'm joined by SquaredUp's VP of Innovation Adam Kinniburgh to answer that question and many more including...

❓ What is operational intelligence?
🙈 Relating observability back to customer, business, or revenue
😎 The value of giving stakeholders confidence
🌉 Who bridges the gap between tech and business or engineers and leadership?
🦋 Correlation VS causation and our innate desire to build connections

...and much more.

You can find Adam on:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/adamkinniburgh/

...and the Operationally Intelligent podcast here:

https://squaredup.com/operationally-intelligent/

You can find the Slight Reliability merch store here:

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

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How does leading platform teams differ from leading product teams?

This week I'm joined by experienced technology leader Dinesh Sukhija to answer that question and many more including...

❓ What is a platform team?
⚽ Coaching engineers to focus on outcomes
☀️ Connecting platform initiatives to business goals
✋ Identifying the limiters in your team
🎤 Spreading knowledge and avoiding single points of failure

...and much more.

You can find Dinesh on:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dinesh-sukhija/

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

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How has my first two years as a manager in tech been? What have I learned? What do I need to work on?

This week I share my experiences over the past couple of years. I cover:

🔥 My recent close call with burnout
🫶 How I attempted to build a team culture
💪 The importance of tough conversations
🥱 How roles and responsibilities might be boring to think about but is critical
❓ What's next?

...and much more.

You can find me 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

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How could AI help human beings negotiate the mountains of telemetry we collect to get simple and fast insight?

This week I'm joined by Ottermon AI CEO and founder Checo Pacheco about the lifecycle of observability coverage and tooling within organisations and how AI is helping to find signals amongst the noise and reduce cognitive load for SREs. We discuss...

🎂 The need for a layer of logic on top of our telemetry data
🚲 The observability lifecycle of a DevOps team
🎶 How most orgs have many observability tools, and how we might make that work
🤯 Reaching the limits of what humans can comprehend as a reason for AI
📕 How poor documentation may become AI's downfall in the future

...and much more.

You can find Checo on:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/checopacheco/

You can find more about Ottermon AI on their website: https://www.ottermon.ai/ or on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/ottermon/

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

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What is chaos engineering and how is it being used in 2025?

This week I'm joined by Gremlin CEO and founder Kolton Andrus to discuss...

🌪️ What is chaos engineering and what is its origins?
🪴 How has it evolved over the year?
🤖 The role of AI agents in SRE work
💰 Justifying the value of chaos engineering
🏃‍♀️‍➡️ How do I get started?

...and much more.

You can find Kolton on:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kolton-andrus-77315a2/

And you can find out more about Gremlin's new reliability intelligence platform here: https://www.gremlin.com/technologies/reliability-intelligence

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

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What are Team Topologies? How can they be used to deliver value simpler and more effectively (and in a more humane way)?

This week I'm joined by Luke McManus to discuss...

⛰️ What are the four team topologies?
🏆 Can we have too much collaboration?
⌚ Team interaction models
🌏 Cognitive load
🏃‍♀️‍➡️ Value dynamics mapping

...and much more.

You can find Luke on:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/luke-mcmanus-agile/

Check out the recently released second edition of the Team Topologies book by Matthew Skelton and Manual Pais here: https://itrevolution.com/product/team-topologies-second-edition/

Or Unbundling the Enterprise by Stephen Fishman and Matt McLarty here: https://itrevolution.com/product/unbundling-the-enterprise/

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