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Going on-call first time?
Prepare well in advance

Alright,

If we want to claim we are ready – we need lot of preparation, mock runs! That’s what you should do before going oncall.
- Read your team’s runbooks and ensure you try them out, don’t simply read like a news paper. If runbook says – search logs – you should actually search logs. If runbooks says run this command – you should actually run that command on a test system. This is important, make sure you have access to a dev/test environment where you can try these without fear of destroying everything.
- Remember, once you are on-call ; You will be bombarded with issues and very little time to act. The more you prepare the more independently you can handle issues.
Shadow!

You don’t need to shadow 24/7 but if you know current on-call is good at their job try to shadow them in zoom meetings while they are actually troubleshooting, mitigating issues. I personally learned a lot in this way. Don’t ever miss a chance to participate in major incidents where a lot of folks will be pulled in and live troubleshooting will happen. That’s great learning opportunity. Make time and keep shadowing.

Be Curious
- Be curious – if you don’t know something ask around.
- Be curious – if you know a better way to do stuff say aloud.
- Be curious – Broaden your horizon and know what’s going on around. Don’t be in a state to be surprised to see a new feature built, plugged into team communication channels official and informal ones.
- Be curious – Don’t miss the most important two or three weekly team meetings. Operations reviews, Sprint Demos to name some. These are avenues to be plugged in. Be vocal and ask questions. If out of time, follow-up offline.
- Be curious – maintain proper TODO mechanism. Otherwise things will spill over and slip among cracks.
- Be curious – Be confident. If you don’t know something it is not your fault. Ask around.
- Be curious – what you don’t know is what you don’t know until you explore more.
When lost go back to happy place!

It is easy to get lost. When you are in a situation where your brain is prodding you with subtle clues “What the hell are you doing?” – It is time to go back to happy place. In other words, take a step back and write down (or type down) what is happy path for current situation. What is supposed to happen in an ideal world. What is happening now? Try to go from point A to point B and see what is supposed to happen and what is happening.

Breadcrumbs are powerful

I witnessed three kinds of devs and their troubleshooting style. (For the purpose of this document)
- The Masters, or magicians!
  - These are exceptions.
  - These are exceptional folks.
  - They keep everything in their mind, they quickly press few buttons and viola! the issue is mitigated.
  - (OK, we can be there, provided we get opportunity to fail/succeed and repeat cycle for few more years)
- The Unorganized Kind!
  - These folks troubleshoot
  - They have good basic concepts.
  - They kind of seem to know what they are doing.
  - But they get lost once every few minutes and restarts troubleshooting from scratch. Or gets frustrated. Or gives up. (depending upon which side of bed they woke up on the morning or which flavor of coffee is served in office coffee machine)
- The Organized Kind.
  - These may or may not have worked on similar issue in the past,
  - But they are meticulously organized.
  - They keep notes and
  - Theorize
  - proves / disproves theory
  - and moves one step at a time ahead.
  - —
  - These are the folks to emulate.
  - They give you confidence you can also do stuff.
  - They make it easier to follow along
  - They demystifies everything.
  - They maintain bread crumbs, so not getting lost on the way.
  - At any time status is in front of you.
Expect the Unexpected

Things don’t go in the way it is easier to move forward. Expect the unexpected. Do not hesitate to get help. Send SOS to team! Remember you are not alone in this.

Be Calm and keep troubleshooting

Trust me, this is going to happen more sooner than you anticipate.
You will be on-call ; And an issue comes – which is derailing one of the important customer’s requirement who has ear to your leadership team all the way to CEO.

Now, you are sharing your screen to a group of folks, all important, eager to help. The folks will include your leads, managers, skip level managers and occasionally your CEO!
- Keep calm
- Remember you are in charge.
- Remember your training.
- Spread Breadcrumbs
- Listen to folks suggestions, make notes. But be assertive.
- Be open to feedback yet be vocal to express your opinions.
- Share your theories, and prove or disprove them one by one.
- Explain what you are doing.
- I know, it is easier said than done. But remember this too shall pass. There is always light at the end of tunnel, keep walking.
September 25, 2025

gnan, on-call, oncall, parthaya
Idea to improve recommendations – multi personalities

Here is an idea to further improve recommendations for movies, products, services, places etc..

So far, we are treating each individual as always same – and trying to recommend either with collaboration filtering or content filtering – It goes only so far.

For “n” number of reasons, individual is not always behaving in same way. Some of them are hard to gauge but other are easy to get based on several signals. Some of the examples –
* What one likes in morning is not same as the one in evening.
* What one likes in spring is not same as the one in summer.
* What one likes in home is not same as the one in work.
* What one likes in regular is not same as the one in vacation.
* What one likes with alone is not same as the one with family.
* What one watches on mobile is not same as the one in TV.

You get the idea.

Stop treating individual as some unbroken piece of rock. Treat each individual with some degree of multiple personalities and apply clustering to each persona.

May 18, 2025
Back in India – The Vacuum Cleaner Saga

We bought a vacuum cleaner.

Used it a couple of times—heavy, loud, and barely picked up anything. We gave up on it. In true Indian fashion, where returns aren’t exactly Costco-easy, it just became part of the furniture. You buy it, you marry it.

Then came a surprise: a post-sales call from the manufacturer.

The rep started off very politely. I took the opportunity to explain our experience—the disappointing performance, the noise, and how we eventually just went back to relying on our trusty maid and her loyal sidekick: the good old broom.

And then… she snapped.

“Sir, everyone else is using it—why can’t you?”

I was stunned. That call remains one of the most intense post-sales feedback sessions I’ve ever had. To this day, whenever a chef hovers over my table and asks, “How’s the food?” while I’m mid-bite, I instinctively nod and say, “Everything’s great!”

Some scars run deep.

—

I remember all this again today while reading some Marketing related literature for UoW Executive-MBA class 🙂

April 7, 2025
Embracing Chaos with a plan of transition to order : A Manager’s Strategy for the Unknown.
For some of the projects, in the beginning there is only Unknown!
- Nothing has been built yet.
- No clear role models exist—only distant possibilities of feasibility.
- The team is entirely new.
- Committing to a deadline comes with a high risk of missing it.
In these situations, the best strategy a manager can adopt is **controlled chaos**. This doesn’t mean having no strategy at all; rather, it means learning to navigate and leverage chaos effectively. The key is to embrace the unknown while continuously working toward order.

### **Build the Team**

Building a team isn’t just about hiring people and putting them in a shared space—physical or virtual. A strong team is one where every member feels motivated, empowered, and safe to take action. There’s no universal formula for this; every manager and every team is different. Experiment with different approaches, discard what doesn’t work, and adopt what does. Most importantly, recognize that team-building is an ongoing process, not just something that happens in the first month.

### **Learn from Progress (Both Success and Failure)**

Failure is an inevitable part of any ambitious project, but it’s also a valuable learning opportunity. The key is to create a culture where these lessons are absorbed and applied. Learning from both successes and failures must be embedded in the team’s DNA, otherwise, these insights will be lost.

### **It’s never about the Human—It’s almost always about the Process**

This is part of building a safe place for team where they can execute in chaos environment with too much unknown. Its never the humans, always process. Process is like a clay cast which produces beautiful bronze statues. Keep tinkering the cast fine-tuning the beauty.

### **But Don’t Ignore the Human Element**

While processes are crucial, sometimes the issue *is* human. If a problem arises once, it’s a process issue. If it happens twice, it sparks curiosity. But if the same issue persists with the same individuals, it’s time for change. Address the underlying patterns, and don’t shy away from tackling the elephant in the room.

### **Look for folks rising up to the Occasion **

In moments of chaos, certain team members will step up, delivering exceptional results. Recognize these individuals, appreciate their efforts, and reward them wisely. Often, the best reward is more opportunities to work on projects of their choice. Spend time mentoring and coaching them to reach their next level.

### **Transition to Order**

Picture yourself navigating an abandoned tunnel—clearing debris, laying tracks, installing lights, and improving ventilation. Once you’ve made it through, don’t linger in the tunnel—board the train and move forward. The transition from chaos to order is delicate and requires a cultural shift. Stay vigilant, listen actively, and guide the team smoothly into structured execution.

By mastering controlled chaos, managers can transform uncertainty into opportunity, laying the foundation for long-term success.
March 20, 2025
The King was furious

The King was furious

A stray arrow from his own camp,

killed his favorite horse.

—

He ordered arrows to be fired

Towards his own men.

—

He ordered retreat

And marched with anger

To his own fort.

—

All the men at arms,

Left to wear different colors.

The king was still furious.

March 14, 2025
Dreary nightmare

Every night,

I had the same dreary nightmare,

waking me up sweaty, lost and scared.

Always,

I was cuddled –

soothing voice, surrounded me.

Until today,

No warm hands holding me.

No musical notes to make me merry.

March 8, 2025
Their aura spreads

Don’t get blindsided

King’s tone traverses all,

Queen’s colors are on flag.

The cogs – shaking, shaping, rotating, oscillating, carrying the burden of whole kingdom –

Are simply cogs without eyes and ears.

When the cogs start sensing

Their aura spreads until it encompasses the royal blue.

February 28, 2025
Weighing life and death

He is nobody,

No signs on forehead,

No crown or gowns on head

No colors on clothes.

One day,

He is mending the chores,

Minding his own clock,

Walking the street –

An elephant

garlanded him.

Now,

He weighs life and death for everybody.

February 28, 2025
Big Brother with Big Stick

Big brother with big stick,

Mending the lines of flock –

Stern yet caring and loved.

Big Don with big gun,

emptying pockets of shun,

cruel, uncaring and detested.

The abrupt shift,

the slice of hand,

the swap of mask,

the turn of hat,

awed everybody.

February 28, 2025
Grace in getting up from fall

One always stumbles,

And falls to ground.

It matters to onlooker –

how gracefully they getup –

and fall in line of the great race.

February 22, 2025