SRE has given us powerful ways to design systems that survive failure: observability, incident response, error budgets, graceful degradation and postmortems. But what about the humans responsible for keeping those systems running? Engineers can spend hours investigating a failing service while overlooking their own warning signals: reduced concentration, decision fatigue, escalating frustration or the inability to switch off after an incident. By the time the human system fails, the consequences can affect reliability, collaboration and decision-making too. This talk explores what happens when we apply reliability thinking to ourselves. Drawing on experience in software engineering, psychology and IT wellbeing, I introduce a practical Human SRE model: Observe, Respond, Recover and Learn. We'll explore how to recognise cognitive overload earlier, build recovery into the operating model, and use blameless postmortem thinking to examine human factors without turning them into individual blame. I'll also explore where AI can provide a cognitive support layer for incident preparation, reflection and decision-making. The goal isn't to make engineers tolerate more load. It's to design healthier operating conditions for the humans who keep our systems reliable.
Gena Frangina is the Founder and Host of the IT Stress Relief Podcast, exploring the intersection of technology, human performance and sustainable ways of working. With a background in software engineering, an MSc in Business Psychology and professional training in clinical hypnotherapy, she brings a cross-disciplinary perspective to stress, cognitive load and resilience in technology environments. Her work applies systems thinking to the human side of technology, exploring how professionals and organisations can create healthier and more sustainable ways of operating.
