Where do AI norms come from?
A dialogue with Dr Cat Hicks on ethics, learning, and what we owe each other. Part one: start by listening.
4 min read
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charity.wtf
Blog by Charity Majors
observability, tech advice, honeycomb.io, etc
2 posts in the last 90 days · newest 21 Sept
Confessions of an Unrepentant Slop Snob
A framework for thinking about when AI involvement is additive or a violation
11 min read
Have you heard? Clickhouse is winning the observability wars!
Years ago I predicted that columnar storage would remake observability. What I didn't see coming: vendors would build it, nerf it, and sell a worse version back to you as "Datadog, but cheaper"
7 min read
In defense of AI mandates
When you need to execute a coordinated change on a tight timeline, a mandate is the best and most honest way to fund it.
4 min read
Is it ethical to use AI?
On externalities and engagement, the problem with purity politics, and why we need to make AI boring again
14 min read
AI demands more engineering discipline. Not less
If you lived through the shift from handcrafted server pets to immutable infrastructure, you should sense something oddly familiar about what's happening now.
15 min read
AI enthusiasts are in a race against time, AI skeptics are in a race against entropy
Both sides are grappling with a real existential threat, and both sides feel like they are screaming into the void. Here's how to close the gap and get everyone pulling in the same direction.
14 min read
Your Data Is Made Powerful By Context (so stop destroying it already)
In logs as in life, the relationships are the most important part. AI doesn't fix this. It makes it worse.
7 min read
My (hypothetical) SRECon26 keynote
One year ago, Fred Hebert and I delivered the closing keynote at SRECon25. Looking back on it now, I can hardly connect with how I felt then. Here's what I'd say one year later.
6 min read
First I wrote the wrong book, then I wrote the right book
I'm not sure whether to say "thank you" or "HOW COULD YOU DO THIS TO ME", but this one goes out to all the people who sent me advice on buying software last fall.
9 min read
Martin Fowler told me the second edition should be shorter (it's twice as long)
90% new material, a clearer mission, and a rogues gallery of contributors. The second edition of Observability Engineering is almost done.
5 min read
Bring Back Ops Pride
"Operations" is not a dirty word, a synonym for toil, or a title for people who can't write code. May those who shit on ops get the operational outcomes they deserve.
10 min read
On Friday Deploys: Sometimes that Puppy Needs Murdering
It's the most wonderful time of the year: the pie, the eggnog, the eternal debates over whether deploy freezes cause more harm than good. 🤶🌲
5 min read
2025 was for AI what 2010 was for cloud
The satellite, experimental technology has become the mainstream, foundational tech. (At least in developer tools.)
2 min read
Moving from WordPress to Substack
After a decade on WordPress, it's time to try something new.
1 min read
From Cloudwashing to O11ywashing
I just watched a panel where tech execs nodded along as someone described the original definition of observability as an "unsolved problem" they had to build custom tooling for. My head exploded.
6 min read
How many pillars of observability can you fit on the head of a pin?
The "three pillars" are a lie that keep good engineers trapped inside a mental model from the 1980s, paying outrageous sums of money for tooling that can't keep up with the complexity of modern systems.
9 min read
Got opinions on observability? I could use your help (once more, with feeling)
No, I haven't finished writing the book yet. Yes, I have more questions. Please? 🙏🌈✨
6 min read