Manual work is a Bug!
summary
Automation often creates fragile, undocumented systems that need manual rescue: a central Puppet/Jenkins setup grows to hundreds of managed items and becomes understandable by only a single operator, forcing three-day handovers and expensive consultancy. Concrete practices include using small, readable Python scripts, emitting logs and dashboards for feedback, tracking changes so rollbacks take minutes not weeks, and designing automation that preserves human judgment rather than hiding it. When those rules are ignored the automation exists to be fought, not to save time.
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chapters (8)
- 0:00Introduction
- 4:19Manual work as a bug
- 10:27Why automation fails
- 16:19Automation’s true purpose
- 20:14Puppet master’s dilemma
- 25:03Documentation’s role
- 29:30Workshops over dashboards
- 31:47Closing thoughts
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