Selective Reliability Engineering: There Is No Single Source of Truth

Tuesday, 29 October, 2024 - 14:4515:05 GMT

Elise Burke, Datadog

Abstract: 

As engineers we design distributed architectures, define project scopes, and ensure that we have a single "source of truth". But what, exactly, do we mean by the phrase? Do we really have only one source of truth - and for that matter, how do we decide what it is?

We'll look at some well-known ambiguities in system design and data modeling and then consider more philosophical questions about truth, the sources of truth we accept, and why this ambiguity matters.

Elise Burke, Datadog

Elise's sixteen year career as a software and site reliability engineer includes supporting Google's internal distributed storage systems and Datadog's organization-wide production practices. Her interests include exploring the interconnectedness of both technology and the people behind it, building overly complex clusters of all kinds at home, and occasionally advocating for spaces or tabs (depending on context). She's excited by sharing her knowledge and experience and encouraging others to learn and grow their abilities in their professional and personal lives.

BibTeX
@conference {302173,
author = {Elise Burke},
title = {Selective Reliability Engineering: There Is No Single Source of Truth},
year = {2024},
address = {Dublin},
publisher = {USENIX Association},
month = oct
}

Presentation Video