Great post! I remember the first time I broke a production database. I caused a pretty nasty deadlock and the entire production app stopped working for the better part of an hour. It was a great learning experience, and I’m glad I had enough access to be able to actually break it.
I was also reminded of this section of The Lean Startup.
“We routinely asked new engineers to
make a change to the production environment on their first day. For engineers trained in traditional development methods, this was often frightening. They would ask, "What will happen to me if I accidentally disrupt or stop the production process?" In their previous jobs, that was a mistake that could get them fired. At IMVU we told new hires, "If our production process is so fragile that you can break it on your very first day of work, shame on us for making it so easy to do so." If they did manage to break it, we immediately would have them lead the effort to fix the problem as well as the effort to prevent the next person...”
I also keep these ideas in mind when working with new team members.
Great post! I remember the first time I broke a production database. I caused a pretty nasty deadlock and the entire production app stopped working for the better part of an hour. It was a great learning experience, and I’m glad I had enough access to be able to actually break it.
I was also reminded of this section of The Lean Startup.
“We routinely asked new engineers to
make a change to the production environment on their first day. For engineers trained in traditional development methods, this was often frightening. They would ask, "What will happen to me if I accidentally disrupt or stop the production process?" In their previous jobs, that was a mistake that could get them fired. At IMVU we told new hires, "If our production process is so fragile that you can break it on your very first day of work, shame on us for making it so easy to do so." If they did manage to break it, we immediately would have them lead the effort to fix the problem as well as the effort to prevent the next person...”
I also keep these ideas in mind when working with new team members.