Slight Reliability Learning with John Allspaw (Episode 100)
Jun 24, 2025
John Allspaw, co-founder of Adaptive Capacity Labs and former CDO at Etsy, dives into the essential art of learning from incidents. He challenges the notion of perfect handovers, revealing why traditional incentives fail to eliminate errors. The talk shifts to the importance of embracing organizational learning and understanding incidents as indicators of systemic issues. Allspaw also champions resilience engineering in software development, urging a community-focused approach to foster adaptability and insight in chaotic environments.
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Learning Is Continuous and Inescapable
- Learning happens continuously and cannot be stopped as it is a core human attribute.
- Resistance to learning often stems from a lack of perceived value by leadership or management.
Deliberate vs. Situated Learning
- Deliberate learning (like courses and mentorship) contrasts with unpredictable situated learning during real incidents.
- Each incident can produce unique and diverse learning outcomes for different participants.
Use Interactive Knowledge Transfer
- Effective knowledge transfer requires an interactive exchange, not just documentation or a one-way brain dump.
- Expect follow-up questions over time as missing context and tacit knowledge emerge.
