Reducing Toil: The SRE Superpower

Reducing Toil: The SRE Superpower

I have a knack for automating repetitive tasks.

The kind of tasks you find yourself doing over and over again until they become muscle memory… and eventually, frustration.

So I automate them.

That way, while I’m asleep (and snoring), systems are still running, checks are still happening. Issues are being detected and brought to my attention early (via alerts, dashboards, or notifications), without me having to go looking for them.

Logs are parsed.

Errors are isolated.

Metrics are generated.

By the time I’m online, I’m not guessing , I’m responding.

What exactly is “toil”?

Toil is just a fancy word for repetitive, manual work.

The kind that:

• Follows a predictable pattern

• Doesn’t require much thinking

• Becomes boring very quickly

• Doesn’t scale with you

If you find yourself doing the same thing again and again… that’s toil.

Why reducing toil matters in SRE

As an SRE, automation isn’t optional,it’s your closest ally.

Your job isn’t just to react to issues.

It’s to build systems that:

• Detect problems early

• Respond automatically

• Heal themselves where possible

In short: catch faster, resolve faster, or avoid entirely.

Automation in practice

Almost everything repetitive can , and should be automated.

For example:

• Archiving logs and moving them to blob storage → script it

• Restarting a service when resource usage spikes → script it

• Installing dependencies when a VM spins up → script it

• Running liveness and readiness checks → script it

• Fetching wallet balances periodically without logging in → script it

Can you do these manually? Sure.

But why would you?

The real benefit

Automation isn’t just about saving time.

It’s about:

• Reducing human error

• Improving response time

• Creating consistency

• Freeing your mind for more complex problems

And honestly,it feels like a superpower.

You build something once… and it keeps working for you indefinitely.

Tools I rely on

Over time, a few tools have become my go-to for automation:

• PowerShell

• Bash

• Python

• Go

Each of them has helped me eliminate toil in different ways and at different scales.

Final thoughts

Machines were created to make life easier.

So if you’re still doing repetitive work manually, you’re missing the point.

Automate it.

Refine it.

Let it run.

And go focus on problems that actually need your brain.😅👀🙃