Handling the Interruptive Nature of Operations: A World of Squirrels and Shiny Objects

Mini Tutorial
Wednesday, November 12, 2014 - 4:00pm-5:30pm

Avleen Vig, Etsy, Inc., and Carolyn Rowland, National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST)

Avleen Vig, Etsy, Inc.

Avleen is a Staff Operations Engineer at Etsy, where he spends much of his time growing the infrastructure for selling knitted gloves and cross-stitched periodic tables. Before joining Etsy he worked at several large tech companies, including EarthLink and Google, as well as a number of small successful startups.

Carolyn Rowland, National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST)

Carolyn Rowland began her UNIX system administration career in 1991 and currently leads an ops/dev team at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). She credits her success with being able to be the bridge between senior management and technology. Her team has distinguished itself as a leader in the development of new technology solutions that solve business and research problems within the Engineering Laboratory and across the NIST campus.

BibTeX
@conference {209058,
author = {Avleen Vig and Carolyn Rowland},
title = {Handling the Interruptive Nature of Operations: A World of Squirrels and Shiny Objects},
year = {2014},
address = {Seattle, WA},
publisher = {{USENIX} Association},
}
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Description: 

The interrupt-driven nature of Operations can create a high-stress, low-productivity workplace, while providing the illusion of high-productivity. We will discuss the nature of operations work and how engineers and managers can both work to manage interruptions and create a better environment.

Who should attend: 

Operations Engineers of all levels.

Take back to work: 

Attendees will be able to understand how to manage interruptions and increase their productivity.

Topics include: 
  • What are interruptions and why do we care
  • Interruption science!
  • The problems with common approaches
  • Coping strategies in general and those used by the speakers
  • Unique challenges of remote workers and teams
  • Details on how to use the tools and methods to maximum advantage