Dealing with anxiety in operations
Justin Lintz defines some of the stresses operations people face, outlines methods for mitigating them, and discusses his personal experience of having an anxiety disorder while working in an operations role, raising awareness about the anxiety issues many people face but are afraid to talk about.
| Talk Title | Dealing with anxiety in operations |
| Speakers | Justin Lintz (Spring) |
| Conference | Velocity |
| Conf Tag | Build resilient systems at scale |
| Location | Santa Clara, California |
| Date | June 21-23, 2016 |
| URL | Talk Page |
| Slides | Talk Slides |
| Video | |
The nature of being in operations can be very stressful. No matter how well you think you have your infrastructure together, disasters still happen. According to the NIMH, 18% of adults in the US have an anxiety disorder. I discuss what I’ve learned dealing with a general panic disorder over the last 17 years and how I’ve managed to cope with it while still working in a job that brings with it a lot of anxiety. I’ll discuss what anxiety is and what a panic attack is like and educate the audience so they can understand what some of their coworkers may be going through. I’ll go over examples of how controlled burns, premortems, being comfortable in your toolsets, and on-call buddies can help in alleviating anxiety. My talk will also have information on getting help with mental health.
