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Slight Reliability

Stephen Townshend
SRE
Observability
Resilience Engineering
Operational Intelligence
Reliability Engineering
Leadership
Burnout
Incident Management
Customer Experience
Opentelemetry
Business Intelligence
Site Reliability Engineering
User Experience
Service Level Objectives
Non-Production Reliability Engineering
Platform Engineering
Software Development
Chaos Engineering
Reliability
Kubernetes

Learning SRE, one day at a time.

PublishesTwice monthlyEpisodes123Founded5 years ago
Number of ListenersCategory
Technology

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Artwork for Slight Reliability

Latest Episodes

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When you first start implementing SRE it's a good idea to find early wins. Implementing monitoring of the four golden signals + availability is something I'm experimenting with at the moment to give our SRE team momentum and to pave... more

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As an engineer you get constant dopamine hits by solving technical problems. As a leader you're often working toward long term goals that span months or years. How do you stay motivated in that context?

This week I'm joined by tech... more

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This week I repurpose a talk I just did at the JuniorDev meetup in Auckland. If you're new to SRE or observability then this is the talk for you. For the more seasoned listeners, it's a chance to see how my perspective and understan... more

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How do you ingest and store petabytes of telemetry every day in a cost effective and high performing way? How can you do this in a way which gives engineers the operational data they need to keep services running? How has this chall... more

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Recent Guests

Cads Oakley
Tech leader based in Auckland; advocate for inclusive leadership
Confidential based on transcript (not explicitly stated)
Episode: Staying Motivated as a Leader with Cads Oakley (Episode 120)
Jacob Leverich
Co-founder and CTO of Observe Inc; former engineer at Splunk; PhD from Stanford
Observe Inc
Episode: Freeing Observability Data Hostages with Jacob Leverich (Episode 118)
Rob Roe
Guest with a master's thesis on The Integral Business Architecture; implemented work at Telstra and startups
Independent consultant / former Telstra leader
Episode: How to Change the World with Rob Roe (Episode 117)
Richard Bown
Tech leader, author of Human Software
Independent/Author
Episode: Human Software with Richard Bown (Episode 116)
Xiao Zhang
Coach, creator, and founder; founder of Orion Group
Orion Group
Episode: Leadership Gym with Xiao Zhang (Episode 115)
Shmuel Kliger
Founder of Causely, a causal reasoning platform
Causely
Episode: AI Use-cases for SRE with Shmuel Kliger (Episode 113)
Adam Kinniburgh
VP Innovation at SquaredUp, host of the Operationally Intelligent podcast
SquaredUp
Episode: Operational Intelligence with Adam Kinniburgh (Episode 112)
Dinesh Sukhija
Leader of platform and security engineering teams with experience in cloud infrastructure and cybersecurity.
Okta
Episode: Leading Platform Teams with Dinesh Sukhija (Episode 111)
Aaron Pacheco
Co-founder of Ottermon AI with over 25 years experience in website development
Ottermon AI
Episode: The Implications of AI on Observability with Aaron "Checo" Pacheco (Episode 109)

Host

Stephen Townsend
Host of Slight Reliability; introduces and guides conversations on reliability and observability.

Reviews

4.8 out of 5 stars from 17 ratings
  • Software engineer essentials

    Well guided conversations that illustrate how software delivery teams can improve their ability to adapt to unknown hazards.

    Apple Podcasts
    4
    zerolagtime
    United States9 months ago
  • Excellent

    Started with the first episode. Loved the precise explanation. Really helpful!

    Apple Podcasts
    5
    ItsPradeep
    India5 years ago

Listeners Say

Key themes from listener reviews, highlighting what works and what could be improved about the show.

Guests bring real-world engineering experience and leadership insights.
Hosts deliver practical, actionable guidance for improving reliability.
Sound guidance on building and leading reliable teams is frequent and consistent.
Conversations balance technical depth with humane, team-focused perspectives.

Chart Rankings

How this podcast ranks in the Apple Podcasts, Spotify and YouTube charts.

Apple Podcasts
#84
Ireland/Technology

Talking Points

Recent interactions between the hosts and their guests.

Staying Motivated as a Leader with Cads Oakley (Episode 120)
Q: What are a few key things someone in a new leadership role should focus on to get started?
Lead with compassion for your team and for yourself, be open and transparent, solicit feedback, and frame conversations around future improvements and learnings rather than dwelling on past mistakes.
Staying Motivated as a Leader with Cads Oakley (Episode 120)
Q: First of all, is there something you can relate to, or have you got any personal experience with this, or is it something you've studied?
Yes, I've found that motivation driven by fear works in the short term but is not sustainable; shifting toward compassionate, transparent leadership and focusing on learning and small, consistent wins creates real engagement over time.
Freeing Observability Data Hostages with Jacob Leverich (Episode 118)
Q: Is all that data stored, can it be stored in one place or are you saying it needs to be stored in different ways, in different locations and the problem is now, how can we consolidate the ability to go out and use that data or explore that data?
The guest discusses that while a single destination for all data may not be realistic, industry convergence toward open data lakehouses can consolidate data across logs, metrics, and traces, with strategies like Snowflake or Iceberg enabling centralized, flexible access and multi-source analytics.
Freeing Observability Data Hostages with Jacob Leverich (Episode 118)
Q: So are you saying that we can have a situation, we have all data that we need for those situations where we're trying to solve a problem under intense stress and pressure?
The guest explains that while there may never be a single, perfect all-in-one place for every copy of data, the industry trend is toward a unified data lakehouse approach that aggregates diverse telemetry data and supports real-time analytics with open formats, enabling comprehensive, timely access.
Leadership Gym with Xiao Zhang (Episode 115)
Q: What are your thoughts on AI in organizations and what should leaders focus on to avoid exacerbating dysfunction?
Both hosts and Xiao emphasize that AI is a tool, not a strategy, and that organizations must first understand their sociotechnical systems—the people, culture, processes, and the interconnections—before applying automation. They warn that AI can magnify existing dysfunctions and that clear, human-centric leadership and system thinking are essential for meaningful progress.

Audience Metrics

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Frequently Asked Questions About Slight Reliability

What is Slight Reliability about and what kind of topics does it cover?

A practical, engineering-focused show exploring reliability, observability, and organizational culture in software. Episodes frequently cover SRE fundamentals, incident response, and reducing toil, alongside leadership, team dynamics, and humane work practices. A standout pattern is bridging technical concepts with real-world governance and cross-functional collaboration, often featuring guests who share hands-on experience building reliable systems and leading teams. The format tends to mix solo guidance, hands-on tactics, and interviews with practitioners, making it helpful for engineers, DevOps, and tech leaders seeking actionable insights and frameworks.

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Which podcasts are similar to Slight Reliability?

These podcasts share a similar audience with Slight Reliability:

1. KubeFM
2. Cup o' Go
3. Fallthrough
4. Soft Skills Engineering
5. 99% Invisible

How many episodes of Slight Reliability are there?

Slight Reliability launched 5 years ago and published 123 episodes to date. You can find more information about this podcast including rankings, audience demographics and engagement in our podcast database.

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What guests have appeared on Slight Reliability?

Recent guests on Slight Reliability include:

1. Cads Oakley
2. Jacob Leverich
3. Rob Roe
4. Richard Bown
5. Xiao Zhang
6. Shmuel Kliger
7. Adam Kinniburgh
8. Dinesh Sukhija

To view more recent guests and their details, simply upgrade your Rephonic account. You'll also get access to a typical guest profile to help you decide if the show is worth pitching.

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