The start of this year sees me thinking about KPIs and goals for my engineering org in my role as VP of Engineering, while also reading a book on potty training in my role as “Daddy”.

As such, the following analogy occurred to me, and now I inflict it upon you:

Dealing with an incident is like dealing with a dirty nappy

• It’s tempting to think of them as “bad” but fundamentally they’re a healthy and natural, if unglamorous, process
• You want them somewhat regularly - too often is bad, but so is too rarely
• Sometimes they go really smoothly and it’s great
• Sometimes they can be a bit gnarly
• Sometimes they go so badly you want to just burn it all down and run away screaming
• If your other processes are healthy, they’re more likely to go better
• You aim to be prepared for them and have them in a comfortable place, but sometimes they surprise you in the early hours of the morning when you’re somewhere you really don’t want to be (thanks twom)
• Having other folks with you for support is really helpful
• Sometimes, whether you like it or not, you get pooped on (thanks twom)

Fundamentally incidents are a fact of life for an engineering org, and dirty nappies a fact of life for the parents of a small child. It’s how you deal with them that counts!