Some weeks the most useful thing I can send you isn’t another deep dive. It’s a reminder.
I’ve taught SRE for years, I’ve worked as an SRE, and today I work as a Principal SRE. None of that means I get to stop reinforcing the fundamentals. If anything, the more responsibility you take on, the more it matters that these principles aren’t just something you can explain in a training — they’re something that actually shows up in your day-to-day decisions.
That feels especially true right now, while we’re all trying to figure out how the SRE role evolves with AI, agents, and new operating models.
I always talk in my trainings about the SRE beliefs: embrace risk, work with SLOs, eliminate toil, monitor what actually matters, improve release engineering, use automation, and pursue simplicity.
Listing them is easy. The hard part is remembering them in the middle of a real decision — when you’re debating a new architecture, responding to an incident, building an automation, or simply deciding which problem deserves your attention.
In those moments I don’t just want to know the SRE principles. I want them to be part of how I think.
So I made a one-page desk reference
That’s exactly why I put together this small SRE one-page desk reference. Nothing sophisticated — being simple is the whole point.
Seven principles, one phrase each, and the practices behind them. Print it, pin it, and let it do the reminding for you.
I already printed it and put it right next to my computer. Now, when I’m chewing on a problem or just clearing my head, I glance at it and ask myself:
Am I really making this decision in line with what I believe about SRE?
Because experience helps a lot — but experience also doesn’t stop us from slipping back into old habits. Sometimes a small reminder is enough to pull us back to the fundamentals.
Make it yours
So today’s newsletter is intentionally short.
I’m sharing this one-page reference so you can do the same: print it, leave it on your desk, share it with your team, or just use it as a reminder. Next time you’re mid-decision, run it down the list — is this choice honoring embracing risk, SLOs, eliminating toil, monitoring, release engineering, simplicity, and automation? Or are old habits quietly steering?
Because in the end, a big part of SRE is exactly this: using simple principles to make better decisions — and making our operational life a little bit easier.
👉 Download it, print it, and put it somewhere you’ll actually see it. If it helps your team, pass it along.
Want to go deeper on each of these seven principles? That’s what the trainings at mugnos-it.com are for.
Cheers,
Douglas Mugnos
MUGNOS-IT 🚀
