Operations Sonnet #1

An Interlude

I lead a team of several engineers
troubleshooting systems manifold;
and then emergent urgency appears:
“Things fall apart, the server cannot hold.”
It is not circumstance that pulls us here,
but we who change ourselves when led to see
priorities that suddenly appear
when nucleating points bring clarity.
“Root cause” so often means “the last excuse”
and thus conceals the primum mobile:
when we don’t understand what we produce,
we doom ourselves to live in disarray.
Before one can discern priority,
they must approach their work with empathy.

This was an unexpectedly busy week at work, so the final part of the Battery Trilogy will have to wait until next week. Until then, here’s Part 1 and Part 2.