Real-World SRE

Alerting

Alerting is a contentious topic. It is contentious because no one wants to be alerted. An alert is a queue that requires you to work, so if an alert is implemented poorly, or without thought, it can quickly disrupt your life and sour your relationship with a project. It is such a common problem that almost every field, company, and person has an opinion on the topic. Doctors have policies that state how long they can work for, along with when and how they can be paged. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) of the United States has requirements for pilots and many countries keep a close eye on the health of their military units that work in high-stress situations.

Note

Being paged is an old but common term. It refers to the act of someone ...