Every engineer remembers their worst incident. Mine taught me something uncomfortable: our systems were fine within the hour. It was us, the engineers, that took all night. The people scrambled. Since then, one question keeps bugging me: why do we test everything except our own response? We chaos-test infrastructure and load-test services, but the people component remains untested. This talk is about closing that gap through rehearsal. We look through the lens of incident simulations, and I'll share what I've learned: what breaks first in a team under pressure (communication, not competence), why your most experienced engineer can be your biggest liability, and how a team that has practiced its worst day performs when the real one arrives.
Niek is a tech lead at Schuberg Philis. He designs, builds, and runs mission critical infrastructure solutions and is an expert in reliability engineering. Niek’s practical, no-nonsense style and engaging delivery help technical leaders and engineers effectively navigate the complex balance between reliability, security, and delivering business value.
