Alison Giano presents at FooCamp 2013 on managing risk in high-performance applications, emphasizing that risk exists regardless of acknowledgment. She discusses creating a risk matrix for all projects to assess the probability and impact of failures and emphasizes the importance of transparency among stakeholders. Giano advocates for understanding risk dynamics as a team effort, highlighting the necessity of monitoring and simplifying systems to reduce potential risks.

1. Presented
by
Alison
Giano1o
Foocamp
2013
MANAGING RISK IN
HIGH-PERFORMANCE APPS
FAILING
…

2. ABOUT ME • I
am
the
CTO/CSO
for
noise.
• We
build
stuff
for
brands
like
Intel,
vitaminwater,
JPMorgan
Chase,
GE,
Sunkist,
Sears,
Unilever,
&
more.
• Managing
risk
is
a
big
part
of
what
I
do.
• Risk
management
doesn’t
have
to
be
boring.
Hi, I’m Alison!
FOOCAMP 2013
@snipeyhead
@snipeyhead

3. Risk is not BAD or GOOD.
It just IS, and it will exist
whether you choose to
acknowledge it or not.
FOOCAMP 2013

4. THIRD-PARTY DEPENDENCIES
FOOCAMP 2013
RISK:
(APIs,
SaaS/PaaS)

5. APPLICATION SECURITY
FOOCAMP 2013
RISK:
(XSS,
CSRF,
SQL
Injec<on,
etc.)

6. APPLICATION PERFORMANCE
FOOCAMP 2013
RISK:
(Code
Errors,
Technical
Debt,
Bad
Queries,
Cache
Failures)

7. SERVER PERFORMANCE
FOOCAMP 2013
RISK:
(Misconfigura<ons,
Exceeding
Capacity,
Hardware/Network
Failure)

8. BRITTLE DEPLOYMENT
FOOCAMP 2013
RISK:
(Problems
during
deployment,
par<ally
deployed
code)

9. OVERLY COMPLEX SYSTEMS
FOOCAMP 2013
RISK:
(Impossible
to
debug,
difficult
to
change)

10. RISK-MATRIX
• Every
project,
every
Sme.
No
excuses.
• Create
a
risk
matrix
• Probability
of
failure
• Impact
of
failure
• Ways
to
minimize
probability
• Game
plan
if
failure
occurs
FOOCAMP 2013

11. TRANSPARENCY
• All
stakeholders
sign-­‐off
on
the
risk
matrix
• Manages
expectaSons
• Gives
you
a
clear
course
of
acSon
during
crisis
FOOCAMP 2013
AKA “COVERING YOUR ASS”

12. Just because something has
risk doesn’t necessarily mean
it’s a bad decision.
FOOCAMP 2013

13. Sometimes, the risk is worth
the reward.
FOOCAMP 2013

14. FOOCAMP 2013
Different
perspecSves
can
uncover
more
risk
Counters
the
sSgma
of
risk
being
BAD
Prevents
the
sSgma
of
being
the
one
who
always
says
NO!
Risk Management is
a TEAM EFFORT!

15. LOG EVERYTHING
FOOCAMP 2013
TIP:
(Automate
log
parsing
to
alert
if
there’s
trouble)

16. MONITOR ALL THE THINGS!
FOOCAMP 2013
TIP:
(Design
your
system
with
monitoring
in
mind)

17. PREMATURE OPTIMIZATION
FOOCAMP 2013
TIP:
(JUST
SAY
NO!)

18. GET TO KNOW YOUR USERS
FOOCAMP 2013
TIP:
(If
something
changes,
there’s
probably
a
reason)

19. FEWER MOVING PARTS IS
BETTER
FOOCAMP 2013
TIP:

20. THANK YOU!
FOOCAMP 2013
@snipeyhead