Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Working with the Chaos Monkey

codinghorror.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

41–43 of 43 posts

Re: Working with the Chaos Monkey

#41

Post by gaius »

neebz wrote: post #8

Netflix is turning out to be my favourite tech company. Just a week ago, in an extensive interview they mentioned that to provide a consistent interface across so many platforms we ended up porting our own version of webkit. And now the Chaos Monkey. It's amazing how technically sound they are considering they were just an online DVD rental company at the start.

There's nothing "just" about it. From day 1, they were handling real people's money, and moving real physical items around. They were not a typical web company which is really just a website with Adwords.

Re: Working with the Chaos Monkey

#42

Post by billybob »

buddydvd wrote: post #31
gabrielroth wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think the post makes the distinction very clearly. First we hear about Netflix doing this surprising thing on purpose. Then we hear about the Stack Exchange guys pulling out their hair to fix a recurring problem. But "even in our time of greatest frustration, I realized that there was a positive side to all this." Where's the ambiguity?

This is where the distinction is made: "Who in their right mind would willingly choose to work with a Chaos Monkey? Sometimes you don't get a choice; the Chaos Monkey chooses you." But, the final takeaway point of the post blurs that distinction: "the best way to avoid failure is to fail constantly." Stack Exchange didn't "choose" the "best way to avoid failure" -- the problem chose them. Netflix, on the other hand,…

This is a good point; I didn't notice this until I read this comment.

Would have been interesting if the post had ended with "so from now on, we're going to use the Chaos Monkey."

Post reply on HN