Can Automation Solve All Incidents?

TL;DR – The panel said No!

While automation holds promise in addressing many aspects of incident management, we believe there are more important questions to ask first; Can automation truly understand the context and the big picture? Can it make decisions when faced with completely novel circumstances?

It seems that for the foreseeable future, we need humans at the centre of incident response. Humans possess the unique ability to contextualise information and make decisions in the face of unprecedented situations. However, to fully leverage these capabilities, humans require continuous training.

Automation can certainly enhance efficiency by handling repetitive tasks and providing rapid responses to known issues. Yet, the nuanced understanding and adaptive decision-making required in complex and unforeseen incidents still lie within the realm of human expertise.

By combining the strengths of automation with the critical thinking and contextual awareness of trained human responders, we can create a more robust and effective incident response framework.

The following videos are from OOPS - Outage Operations and Incident Response -8 event earlier this year at 红帽 where one of the panelists , Har-Inder Chandan commercial jet pilot, shares very interesting insights about role of automation in dealing with incidents.