ChatOps

Chapter 14. Signal Versus Noise

It’s important to note and discuss one common complaint about a ChatOps approach: the potential overload of conversations and alerts (i.e., noise). In smaller teams and organizations, the volume of conversations, context, and commands that flows through a group chat tool may seem manageable. As those teams grow, however, it becomes much harder to find ways to take part in the conversations, maintain awareness of what is taking place, and actually get your job done. When chat rooms or channels are constantly updating with new bits of information to ingest and process, it can actually become more detrimental to productivity than it is helpful.

Alert Fatigue

Alert fatigue is a very real concern that should be addressed as quickly as it’s recognized. A failure to properly deal with alert fatigue can lead to not only a drop in productivity, but something much worse—burnout. The result of many contributing factors, burnout must be taken seriously and addressed immediately.

Alert Fatigue

Exposure to a high volume of frequent alerts, causing desensitization to critical issues and leading to:

• Longer response times

• Anxiety

• Sleep deprivation

• Negative physical effects

• Employee dissatisfaction

Those who feel overwhelmed by their roles and responsibilities may not even realize that they are nearing a burnout situation. Alert fatigue is one of the contributing factors. At the end of the day it’s up to each individual team member to decide how, how ...