Irrational Exuberance - No Wrong Doors. @ Irrational Exuberance

Hi folks,

This is the weekly digest for my blog, Irrational Exuberance. Reach out with thoughts on Twitter at @lethain, or reply to this email.


Posts from this week:

- No Wrong Doors.


No Wrong Doors.

Some governmental agencies have started to adopt No Wrong Door policies, which aim to provide help–often health or mental health services–to individuals even if they show up to the wrong agency to request help. The core insight is that the employees at those agencies are far better equipped to navigate their own bureaucracies than an individual who knows nothing about the bureaucracy’s internal function.

For the most part, technology organizations are not complex bureaucracies, but sometimes they do seem to operate that way. A particularly common pattern is along the lines of:

  • Product Engineer joins #observability
  • Product Engineer: Hey, I’m having trouble with alerts, can you help me with that?
  • Obs Engineer: Oh yeah, for sure, what alerts?
  • Product Engineer: Ok, so there at this Datadog link…
  • Obs Engineer: Got it. Yeah, so that’s in the SRE Obs team now. We do observability for the product analytics data lake, not production observability.
  • Obs Engineer: Ok. Yeah, good. Let me find SRE Obs
  • Product Engineer joins #sre-obs
  • Product Engineer: Hi, I got steered here by #observability, I think this is where I can get help with issues like Datadog link…
  • SRE Engineer: Oh, absolutely. That looks misconfigured. Where is your app completed Observability Checklist and when did you review it with us?
  • Product Engineer: …how would I know that?

In that example, the product engineer is first forced to navigate the unintuitive organizational design to find the right team for questions about Datadog. After they find the right team, they are forced to figure out how the SRE Observability team records when a checklist is completed. In almost all cases, the product engineer ends up frustrated, but it’s not just them. Almost every time, the observability engineer and SRE engineer also probably feel frustrated that the product engineer didn’t know enough to navigate their bureaucracy successfully.

Something I’ve been thinking about recently is how engineering organizations can adopt a variant of the No Wrong Doors policy to directly connect folks with problems with the right team and information. Then the first contact point becomes a support system for navigating the bureaucracy successfully.

For example, imagine if this had happened instead:

  • Product Engineer joins #observability
  • Product Engineer: Hey, I’m having trouble with alerts, can you help me with that?
  • Obs Engineer: Oh yeah, for sure, what alerts?
  • Product Engineer: Ok, so there at this Datadog link…
  • Obs Engineer: Got it. Yeah, let me start a thread in #sre-obs to help get this sorted
  • Product Engineer joins #sre-obs
  • Obs Engineer: Hey all, Product Engineer is having trouble with Datadog (see link here). Product Engineer: if you look into this spreadsheet you can find the Observability Checklist entry for your app to add to this thread to help with debugging
  • SRE Engineer: OK, so..

Now the product engineer gets support from the same two folks as before, but because they’re helping the product engineer navigate the process, they get to a better situation.

Beyond being helpful to your colleagues, which is an obvious goal in some companies and not-at-all a cultural priority in others, I think there are a number of other advantages to think about here. First, being helpful creates positive relationships across organizations. Second, it makes it more obvious where you do have genuine areas of ambiguous ownership, and makes it possible for informed parties to escalate that rather than relying on folks with the least context to know to escalate the ambiguities. Third, it educates folks asking for help about the right thing to do, because a knowledgeable person helping is a great role model of the best way to solve a problem. Finally, if you happen to route to the wrong person–it happens!–then you learn that immediately rather than forcing someone without context to navigate the confusion.

The most effective mechanism I’ve found for rolling out No Wrong Door is initiating three-way conversations when asked questions. If someone direct messages me a question, then I will start a thread with the question asker, myself, and the person I believe is the correct recipient for the question. This is particularly effective because it’s a viral approach: rolling out No Wrong Door just requires any one of the three participants to adopt the approach. Even the question asker can do it, although the power dynamics of the interaction do make it a bit harder for them.


That's all for now! Hope to hear your thoughts on Twitter at @lethain!


This email was sent to you
why did I get this?    unsubscribe from this list    update subscription preferences
Will Larson · 77 Geary St · co Calm 3rd Floor · San Francisco, CA 94108-5723 · USA

Email Marketing Powered by Mailchimp

Older messages

Making engineering strategies more readable @ Irrational Exuberance

Wednesday, May 22, 2024

Hi folks, This is the weekly digest for my blog, Irrational Exuberance. Reach out with thoughts on Twitter at @lethain, or reply to this email. Posts from this week: - Making engineering strategies

How should you adopt LLMs? @ Irrational Exuberance

Friday, May 17, 2024

Hi folks, This is the weekly digest for my blog, Irrational Exuberance. Reach out with thoughts on Twitter at @lethain, or reply to this email. Posts from this week: - How should you adopt LLMs? How

Load-bearing / Career-minded / Act Two rationales @ Irrational Exuberance

Wednesday, May 8, 2024

Hi folks, This is the weekly digest for my blog, Irrational Exuberance. Reach out with thoughts on Twitter at @lethain, or reply to this email. Posts from this week: - Load-bearing / Career-minded /

Constraints on giving feedback. @ Irrational Exuberance

Wednesday, May 1, 2024

Hi folks, This is the weekly digest for my blog, Irrational Exuberance. Reach out with thoughts on Twitter at @lethain, or reply to this email. Posts from this week: - Constraints on giving feedback.

Notes on how to use LLMs in your product. @ Irrational Exuberance

Saturday, April 13, 2024

Hi folks, This is the weekly digest for my blog, Irrational Exuberance. Reach out with thoughts on Twitter at @lethain, or reply to this email. Posts from this week: - Notes on how to use LLMs in your

You Might Also Like

Use Black Friday to Reward and Retain Loyal Customers

Wednesday, October 30, 2024

Daphne Tideman, growth advisor and consultant, breaks down how a retention-first approach can lead to a more profitable, sustainable impact. Use credits, benefits and exclusive offers to reduce churn.

Eng org seniority-mix model. @ Irrational Exuberance

Wednesday, October 30, 2024

Hi folks, This is the weekly digest for my blog, Irrational Exuberance. Reach out with thoughts on Twitter at @lethain, or reply to this email. Posts from this week: - Eng org seniority-mix model. Eng

Unwrapping a Halloween Mystery

Wednesday, October 30, 2024

The secret of mystery-flavor Dum Dums ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌

🤝  The Biz Buyer’s Guide to Risk (Without Going Insane)

Tuesday, October 29, 2024

Inside: 1 awesome event, 1 key lesson for biz buyers to know, and 1 great meme Main Street Minute Newsletter Header (4) (1) Biz Buyers, This is where we share some of the best tips, tools, and ideas

Ebook Many Devices:  A Second Chance with My Grumpy Detective: A Next Door - Lovers Romance

Tuesday, October 29, 2024

Contemporary Romantic Suspense ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ Welcome to ContentMo's Book of the Day "This book isn

A Brief History of Art Collecting

Tuesday, October 29, 2024

Your weekly 5-minute read with timeless ideas on art and creativity intersecting with business and life͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌

The Batman of Baltimore

Tuesday, October 29, 2024

This actually isn't a Halloween story. ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌

Don’t Wait for the Breakup

Tuesday, October 29, 2024

Write your exit options now. ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏

🧙‍♂️ 3 surprising truths about breaking free from the 9-5 grind

Tuesday, October 29, 2024

Why I gave this "creator thing" my best shot ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏

For Authors: Audio Book Promos 🔊 Tweets & FB group posts • 60 Day orders save 15% +

Monday, October 28, 2024

Affordable Audio Book Promos ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ Enable Images Audiobook Promos for Authors & Publishers CHOOSE