The Operations Mindset: Running Things That Work

Strategy is glamorous. Operations is not. But operations is where strategy goes to either live or die.

The Invisible Work

Good operations are invisible. When everything works, no one notices. When something breaks, everyone asks why you failed. This asymmetry is the defining characteristic of operational roles.

Operations is like driving a car. No one compliments you for not crashing.

The Three Laws of Operations

Law 1: Document Everything

If it is not written down, it does not exist. Every process, every runbook, every escalation path must be documented. Not for auditors—for the 3am version of yourself.

Law 2: Automate the Repeatable

If you do something more than twice, script it. If you script it more than twice, productize it. Your job is to make yourself obsolete for routine tasks.

# The operations evolution
manual_task.sh        # Day 1: Script it
cron_job.sh           # Day 7: Schedule it
github_action.yml     # Day 30: Productize it
self_healing_system/  # Day 90: Eliminate it

Law 3: Measure Obsessively

What gets measured gets managed. These are the metrics I track for any operational system:

• Availability: Is the system up? (Target: 99.9%)

• Latency p99: How slow is the slowest 1%?

• Error Rate: What percentage of requests fail?

• Toil Ratio: How much time is spent on manual work vs. improvement?

The Operator Identity

I call myself an Operator because it is a mindset, not a job title. Operators take ownership. They do not wait to be told what to do. They see gaps and fill them. They build systems that outlast their involvement.

The goal is not to be indispensable. The goal is to build something so resilient that you can walk away.

Running something critical? I can help you build the systems that keep it running.