Your On Call Week Is Not a Normal Week With Pages in It

This sprint plan assigns you to the migration project and also designates you as the person on call that week. While the pager may seem quiet at times, it is crucial for maintaining deep work and uninterrupted focus. A pager disrupts the belief that nothing will interrupt you, making it challenging to concentrate.

During your on call week, you open the migration project, load it into your mind, and reserve a portion of your attention for potential issues. However, this strategy backfires when a single alert disrupts your progress, forcing you to abandon your work and start over. By the end of the week, it becomes evident that the migration has made limited progress, and some team members resent the interruptions.

The assignment of on call duty was not a matter of personal choice; rather, it resulted from a plan that viewed on call responsibilities as secondary to other tasks. To improve the situation, it is essential to recognize that on call is an interrupt week. Before commencing large projects, it is vital to remove them from the schedule and allocate them to a different time. Instead, fill the week with smaller, manageable tasks that can be completed in segments without losing progress.

Furthermore, it is beneficial to assign a theme to the on call week, such as addressing a specific issue or implementing a runbook step. This approach not only keeps the work focused but also allows the person on call to address the problem while it is still fresh in their mind. By properly documenting the issues encountered and the solutions implemented, the on call week can become an opportunity for the team to enhance the system's resilience rather than a source of added stress.

Ultimately, when executed effectively, the on call week can serve as a valuable opportunity for the team to streamline their processes and create a more resilient system.