Kurt Andersen, Clari, and Sebastian Vietz, Compass Digital and Compass Group
Ask 10 people what SRE is, and you’ll get 11 answers. There is no single "correct" way to do SRE. From embedded engineers to centralized consulting teams, every organization adapts the core concepts to fit their reality. This unconference discussion session invites you to peel back the label and examine the reality of the role. Join our facilitators to discuss the different flavors of SRE, share how your organization defines it, and debate whether the title still fits the work we do today.
By day, Kurt works as an infrastructure software architect at Clari. In addition, he serves on the USENIX Board and has had the pleasure to work with amazing people around the globe in the SREcon conferences. He also helps with the annual SRE survey and report.
Sebastian Vietz is Director of Reliability Engineering at Compass Digital, where he builds the SRE discipline to help the organization move from operational friction to sustainable reliability. Over the past decade, Seb has launched SRE teams from the ground up and stepped into established organizations at reliability impasse — realigning structure, ownership, and operating models to restore clarity, impact and momentum.
Seb is also the creator of SRE Insights (sreinsights.io) and co-host of the Reliability Enablers podcast with Ash Patel, contributing to the broader reliability community through practical, experience-driven conversations.
author = {Kurt Andersen and Sebastian Vietz},
title = {Varieties of {SRE}},
year = {2026},
address = {Seattle, WA},
publisher = {USENIX Association},
month = mar
}