In this talk, we explore five practical, tried-and-tested, real world techniques for improving operability with many kinds of software systems, including cloud, Serverless, on-premise, and IoT.

• Logging as a live diagnostics vector with sparse Event IDs

• Operational checklists and ‘Run Book dialogue sheets’ as a discovery mechanism for teams

• Deployment Verification Tests as a way to assess runtime dependencies and readiness for service

• Correlation IDs beyond simple HTTP calls

• Lightweight ‘User Personas’ as drivers for operational dashboards

Based on work in many industry sectors, we will learn how to improve the operability of software systems using these team-friendly techniques.