Why we got rid of our small-PR ruleWhy we got rid of our small-PR rule

Why we got rid of our small-PR rule

Small PRs are great for humans, but not for AIs. Instead of focusing on diff size, we moved ot a risk-based model.

Quentin Rousseau

Quentin Rousseau

May 20, 2026
4 mins
Stop trying to review AI's code faster: bet on rollback insteadStop trying to review AI's code faster: bet on rollback instead

Stop trying to review AI's code faster: bet on rollback instead

AI's failure mode has changed. Most incidents aren't code bugs: they're context bugs. And faster review can't catch them. A case for rollback.

Quentin Rousseau

Quentin Rousseau

May 5, 2026
6 mins
Re-thinking candidate take-homes in the AI Era: transcripts over codeRe-thinking candidate take-homes in the AI Era: transcripts over code

Re-thinking candidate take-homes in the AI Era: transcripts over code

When everyone can ship clean code with AI, the transcript of how they got there becomes a key signal.

Quentin Rousseau

Quentin Rousseau

February 24, 2026
7 mins
TDX 2025: Agentic AI is changing how we workTDX 2025: Agentic AI is changing how we work

TDX 2025: Agentic AI is changing how we work

TDX was buzzing with energy as Salesforce unveiled Agentforce 2.0, bringing agentic AI directly into Slack.

Quentin Rousseau

Quentin Rousseau

March 7, 2025
3 mins
Lessons from the CircleCI Security IncidentLessons from the CircleCI Security Incident

Lessons from the CircleCI Security Incident

What SREs can learn from the CircleCI security incident of January 2023.

Quentin Rousseau

Quentin Rousseau

January 9, 2023
4 min read
5 Tips If You’re the 1st SRE Hire by Instacart's First SRE5 Tips If You’re the 1st SRE Hire by Instacart's First SRE

5 Tips If You’re the 1st SRE Hire by Instacart's First SRE

Best practices for “SRE pioneers” – meaning engineers who are the very first SREs hired at an organization.

Quentin Rousseau

Quentin Rousseau

May 27, 2022
5 min read
The Pros and Cons of Embedded SREsThe Pros and Cons of Embedded SREs

The Pros and Cons of Embedded SREs

A comparison of the two main SRE team models: Embedded SREs vs. standalone SRE teams.

Quentin Rousseau

Quentin Rousseau

April 12, 2022
4 min read
Top 9 Skills for SREs from ex-Instacart SRETop 9 Skills for SREs from ex-Instacart SRE

Top 9 Skills for SREs from ex-Instacart SRE

A list of the top nine SRE skills, from incident management, to cloud computing, to networking and beyond.

Quentin Rousseau

Quentin Rousseau

February 11, 2022
4 min read
Top 5 Incidents and Outages of 2021Top 5 Incidents and Outages of 2021

Top 5 Incidents and Outages of 2021

An overview of major IT incidents and outages in 2021

Quentin Rousseau

Quentin Rousseau

January 14, 2022
4 min read
Practical Guide to SRE: Infrastructure-as-Code (IaC)Practical Guide to SRE: Infrastructure-as-Code (IaC)

Practical Guide to SRE: Infrastructure-as-Code (IaC)

An overview of how SREs can benefit from Infrastructure-as-Code.

Quentin Rousseau

Quentin Rousseau

December 10, 2021
4 min read
6 Steps SREs Should Take to Prepare for Black Friday and Cyber Monday 20216 Steps SREs Should Take to Prepare for Black Friday and Cyber Monday 2021

6 Steps SREs Should Take to Prepare for Black Friday and Cyber Monday 2021

Six tips on how Site Reliability Engineers (SREs) can prepare for the reliability challenges of Black Friday and Cyber Monday 2021

Quentin Rousseau

Quentin Rousseau

November 24, 2021
4 min read
SRE Complete Resume Writing GuideSRE Complete Resume Writing Guide

SRE Complete Resume Writing Guide

Follow these steps to write a great SRE job resume.

Quentin Rousseau

Quentin Rousseau

November 12, 2021
4 min read