Plan as if You Will Die Tomorrow : DevOps Perspective

Nothing is 100% reliable. Everything fails over time

This post is not to promote negativism but to prepare for avoiding it. Often, we do things as if we will always be in the same state when we wake up in the morning. Lots of talks we see about Disaster Recovery (DR) cover multi-regional/zonal replication, multi-cloud orchestration for achieving High Availability (HA), and avoiding single points of failure.

But the human version of DR is often neglected. Infrastructure as Code (IaC), wikis, docs, and videos are a few supporting components for reducing human dependency and synchronous communication. From architecting to implementation level, it’s crucial to consider how to make systems resilient not just from a technical standpoint but from a human one.

Human-Centric Disaster Recovery

1. Document Everything: Comprehensive documentation is more than just a list of instructions. It’s a living document that evolves with the systems. Ensure that all processes, configurations, and operational procedures are well-documented. This documentation should be accessible, easy to understand, and regularly updated to reflect changes in the infrastructure and processes.
2. Knowledge Sharing: Encourage a culture of knowledge sharing within the team. Regularly scheduled knowledge-sharing sessions can help disseminate information across the team and prevent single points of failure in knowledge. Use tools like internal wikis, shared drives, and collaborative platforms to facilitate this sharing.
3. Automate Where Possible: Automation isn’t just for deployment. It’s also for reducing the reliance on manual interventions that can be prone to human error. Use IaC to automate infrastructure setup and configurations, and implement automated testing to catch issues early.
4. Cross-Training: Ensure that team members are cross-trained in various aspects of the system. This ensures that if a key person is unavailable, others can step in without a significant loss of productivity. Cross-training also helps in spreading the knowledge and reducing the risk associated with having a single point of expertise.
5. Regular Drills: Conduct regular disaster recovery drills that include scenarios involving human resources. These drills should test not only the technical recovery processes but also the readiness of team members to handle unexpected situations.
6. Backup and Recovery: Implement robust backup and recovery processes that include not only data but also configurations, scripts, and documentation. Ensure that backups are tested regularly to confirm their integrity and effectiveness.
7. Post-Mortem Analysis: After any incident or drill, conduct a post-mortem analysis to identify what went well and what could be improved. This should be a collaborative process that involves all team members and focuses on learning and improvement rather than blame.

In the realm of DevOps, planning for disaster is often focused on the technical aspects of infrastructure. However, considering the human element is just as crucial. By documenting processes, sharing knowledge, automating tasks, cross-training team members, conducting regular drills, and ensuring comprehensive backup and recovery plans, we can create a resilient and adaptable team capable of handling both technical and human-related challenges.

Ultimately, planning as if we will die tomorrow is about preparing for the unexpected and ensuring that the systems — and team — are ready to handle whatever comes next. It’s about building a culture of preparedness and resilience that extends beyond technology and into every aspect of the operations.