What’s actually slowing this PC down?
Pick the symptom - the matching free tool is one click away.
iTechGuides is reader-supported. When you buy through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. Learn more
Engineers may volunteer during a major incident when they feel responsible for the system and respected by the people running it. That willingness is not a staffing plan: managers must protect leave, share credit and decisions, and take responsibility for recovery rather than treating extra effort as an entitlement.
Why would engineers join an incident when they are not on call?
In his DEV Community essay, Saqib Ameen Subhan describes a cloud-region outage in which engineers who were not on call joined the incident bridge voluntarily; recovery took thirty hours. That is the author’s account of one event, not independently verified incident reporting or evidence about how engineers generally behave.
Subhan interprets the response as the result of ownership cultivated during ordinary work, not simply a measure of individual work ethic. As he puts it, “The 2 AM behaviour was decided months earlier, at 2 PM, when nothing was burning.” The useful distinction is between a rota obligation, which defines who is expected to respond, and voluntary help, which can emerge when people care about the system and trust the team.
What management practices can support ownership?
Subhan points to four everyday practices. They are his management perspective, not a proven causal formula or a guarantee that people will volunteer during an outage.
#1 Best Overall
Protect leave
Cross-train so that time off does not depend on an absent colleague being reachable, and let the team coordinate its leave calendar. Protected leave means a person can disconnect without being treated as hidden on-call capacity.
Give public credit
Name engineers’ contributions when reporting work to leadership, and make room for them to present their own work. Credit should describe who did the work rather than making the manager its public face.
Share decisions with the people affected
Involve engineers in choices about tooling, processes, and the on-call rota. Participation matters especially when the people asked to operate a system will live with the decision’s consequences.
Free tools Windows power users keep installed
One-click scans. No signup required.
Treat engineers as people
Avoid describing colleagues as “resources” in meetings, plans, or management thinking. Subhan’s point is that respectful treatment is part of building a sense of ownership, rather than a substitute for fair working conditions.
How can managers welcome help without turning it into an expectation?
Voluntary effort stops being voluntary when leaders quietly incorporate it into routine staffing. Subhan warns that expecting extra effort as a gift can erode the trust that prompted it. His distinction is captured in two lines from the essay: “The willingness is a gift” and “Protect the gift and it compounds. Spend it and it is gone.”
- Take the first burden: Subhan recommends that managers answer first at 2 AM rather than treating engineers’ willingness to help as the default response.
- Provide recovery time: After an incident night, arrange compensatory time off without making the exhausted person ask for it.
- Watch for repeated heroics: If the same engineer keeps stepping in, treat that pattern as a reason to examine coverage and workload—not as a reliable operating model.
These are recommendations from the essay, not a formal policy, and they do not guarantee a particular outcome. The practical test is whether extra help remains a choice, while scheduled coverage and recovery are handled as management responsibilities.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.What does the essay establish—and what does it not?
The essay offers a management argument illustrated by one outage anecdote. It does not cite quantitative studies, compare formal management frameworks, or establish that any one practice causes engineers to volunteer. Its value is the distinction it draws: people may feel ownership when they are respected and included, but that feeling cannot fairly be used to plan around unpaid or unbounded availability.
Subhan’s essay, “You can buy attendance, You can buy hours, But the feeling that "this system is mine" is Not for Sale!”, appeared on DEV Community. The listing shows “Sep 30” without a visible year, so the publication year is not established. Read the essay on DEV Community.
Quick Recap
Product prices and availability are accurate as of the date/time indicated and are subject to change. Any price and availability information displayed on Amazon at the time of purchase will apply.
