Company
Date Published
Author
Tom Wilkie
Word count
1237
Language
English
Hacker News points
None

Summary

The blog post argues for optimizing Mean Time to Recovery (MTTR) over Mean Time Between Failures (MTBF) in running a Software as a Service (SaaS) business, emphasizing that frequent releases and embracing instability can lead to better product reliability and responsiveness. By continuously deploying minimum viable products and testing in production, teams can become adept at handling failures, fostering a resilient on-call team that is better prepared for outages. This approach allows for quicker adaptation to customer needs, as frequent updates minimize the size of each change, reducing the risk of significant disruptions. The post suggests that deploying updates regularly helps teams to maintain familiarity with the codebase, making even the traditionally risky holiday season a stable period for MTTR-focused companies. By leveraging tools like Kubernetes and maintaining a solid observability strategy, teams can effectively manage incidents and balance their release cadence with on-call load, ultimately leading to a more agile and responsive product development cycle.