Any highly functional team will need a leader. It's not optional, especially in crisis. Decisions need to be made quickly and someone needs to coordinate efforts rather than getting knee-deep in technical issues. This talk will explore exactly that role. When should you choose a leader, and when everyone is busy putting out the big fire, what should the leader actually be doing? I'll answer these questions and give you real ideas to bring back to your teams and improve your crisis response.

1. Managing Fires
leadership’s role in incident management
@CrayZeigh

2. Aaron Aldrich @CrayZeigh
DevOps Consultant & Evangelist
Organizing @DevOpsCT &
DevOpsDays Hartford 2017
Cage Data, Inc.
cagedata.com/devops/
@CageData

3. “Never let a serious crisis go to waste. What I mean
by that it’s an opportunity to do things you think
you could not do before.”
-Rahm Emanuel
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4. @CrayZeigh
story time

5. use your tools for little fires
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6. context
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7. runbooks
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8. automation engines
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9. escalation
processes
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10. crisis requires a team and
leadership
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11. @CrayZeigh
be
know
do
• a servant-leader
• an adaptive learner
• a creative thinker
• a global communicator
• yourself and seek self improvement
• your people and help them achieve their potential
• the doctrine,and know when to be constrained by it
• your profession,contribute to it,and develop with it
• the right things right
• provide clear,actionable vision
• make timely decisions
• maintain balance and moderation
Army code of leadership adaptation credit to @scottnasello

12. bestow
leadership
before
crisis
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13. @CrayZeigh
ritual sets apart from normal

14. crisis leaders should be authorized to make important
business decisions
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15. delegate authority as far as
possible
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16. Troubleshooting
101
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17. take it incrementally
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18. what will make it work?
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19. what will make it whole?
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20. manage information
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21. “Brevity is the
soul of wit.
Specificity is the
soul of
narrative
[getting work
done]”
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22. make work
visible to all
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23. @CrayZeigh

24. leaders handle human
problems
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25. more on the plate,
less on the mind
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26. manage your bench
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27. make sure team
members are available
to make substitutions
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28. tell people to stop
working and get
rest
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29. you can’t stop the sun

30. a little less conversation

31. public communication
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32. communicate quickly
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33. communicate
often
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34. be open
and honest
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35. honesty is
rewarded
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36. end crisis mode
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37. empower your team,
remove barriers
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38. Thanks!
this is fine.@CrayZeigh