Command Under Pressure: David Owczarek on Incident Leadership and Human-Centered Reliability
Description
Incident response is as much about people as it is about systems. In this episode, David Owczarek, a veteran engineer leader and seasoned incident commander, joins Silvan Kalache to unpack the human dynamics behind effective reliability leadership.
Drawing on experiences across startups and global enterprises, David shares what really matters when everything breaks, including:
– How incident response strategies shift between small companies and large enterprises
– Why not every engineer should be an incident commander
– How empathy and transparency during outages can deepen customer trust instead of eroding it
– Where AI is showing promise in SRE workflows—and where human judgment still reigns supreme
If you’re leading incidents, training ICs, or thinking about the future of AI-assisted reliability, this episode is packed with hard-won insights and grounded strategies for navigating chaos with clarity.
United States
