Enterprise Roadmap to SRE

Chapter 3. SRE Principles

Before we talk about specific practices, it’s important to be clear on principles, similar to the legal terminology of adherence to the letter and spirit of the law. Practices themselves aren’t enough; the spirit of SRE is in the principles. Practices also can’t be exhaustive—they are proxies for principles and vary over time and from org to org.

Principles are the fundamental truths that form the foundation of your transformation and help guide decision making. There are often multiple ways to achieve business objectives, so encouraging people to live and breathe a core principle is better than setting exhaustive rules that can be followed in letter but not in spirit. Google’s own principles are an example of this; while there are multiple internal policies regarding how we design and build new services, the core principle we always try to adhere to is, “Focus on the user and all else will follow.”

Your focus should be on enabling people to demonstrate leadership at every level rather than being bound by a series of directives that disempower individuals. In particular, business functions and managers need to be convinced by the transformation narrative and must be willing to amend the detailed guidance within the context of their specialist areas. These influencers are your greatest assets once they are convinced, and your biggest hurdle if not.

Similar to principles, good policies focus on outcomes and not tasks; however, they are more prescriptive ...