At OnPage, we know the importance of DevOps burnout and have explored the topic in different formats such as our eBook and video. The importance of the issue is highlighted by the following components:
How do you realize that you are suffering from burnout? It’s like the famous description of a frog in boiling water. The frog only knows it’s going to die when it’s too late. Similarly, the engineer only knows they are suffering burnout when they have either burnt bridges or broken friendships or flamed out. In fact the culture change from adopting DevOps can lead to burnout in and of itself as engineers try to incorporate the lessons and teachings of DevOps. While the workplace itself might have adopted this new culture, the employees are not quite there yet.
Burnout is a symptom of the institution as much as it is of the engineer’s ego trying to take too much on. Engineers are famous for their fear of the “Impostor Syndrome” where they fear they are the least intelligent person on the team and they are just one step away from exposing themselves.
In an article from Business Insider, “Impostor Syndrome” was described as being like the boogie man: “Open the closet, turn on the lights, look around, and you see that nothing is there. But it never goes away entirely. It’s just temporarily gone, and you’ll have to expose it again.” And even though the boogie man is shown not to exist, the Impostor Syndrome feeling continues.
As a coping mechanism, engineers spend a significant amount of time compensating rather than reaching out for help. Engineers seem to delude themselves into thinking that the long hours are only a problem with their company. But really the problem extends to all companies.
Using OnPage, management can better address the arrival of high-priority alerts. High-priority alerts can be sent directly to the on-call engineer’s OnPage app on their smartphone. All critical notifications bypass the silent switch on mobile. No more hoping that the engineer reads the email or hears the arrival of a text message or a phone call.
For overnight on-call shifts, the engineer can be assured that they will be woken up by the prominent OnPage alert which continues for eight hours until the message is read. Low-priority alerts can be directed to the engineer’s OnPage account via a low-priority alert or email. By not having to constantly check email or SMS for critical alert messages, the engineer can alleviate significant amount of stress. The engineer knows they will receive the critical message.
What responsibility does management hold in mitigating burnout? The following are actionable points management can incorporate and help DevOps engineers incorporate as well:
Discussing these 11 points would be the basis for a great, brown bag lunch between management and employees. The discussion would allow DevOps engineers to work with their managers so that each party could have a better understanding of the requirements for their team to be successful. Perhaps the team needs a better alerting technology along with a better way to prioritize alerts. A brown bag lunch would be a great place to start.
Let OnPage show you how our cloud-based, critical alerting platform can be an important tool in managing and controlling engineer burnout. Schedule a demonstration today!
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