---
title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: common practice of using rumor and…"
description: "\"“common practice of using rumor and hearsay, which can lead to the unfortunate metric of mean time until declared innocent—how quickly can we convince ..."
image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/2d0/gene-kim-2268_time_common-practice-of-using-rumor-and-hears_1886651.jpg"
---

#  common practice of using rumor and hearsay, which can lead…

![“common practice of using rumor and hearsay, which can lead to the unfortunate metric of mean time until declared innocent—how quickly can we convince everyone else that we didn’t cause the outage.” quote by Gene Kim](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/2d0/gene-kim-2268_time_common-practice-of-using-rumor-and-hears_1886651.jpg)   [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/2d0/gene-kim-2268_time_common-practice-of-using-rumor-and-hears_1886651.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/2d0/gene-kim-2268_time_common-practice-of-using-rumor-and-hears_1886651.jpg)

> ““common practice of using rumor and hearsay, which can lead to the unfortunate metric of mean time until declared innocent—how quickly can we convince everyone else that we didn’t cause the outage.””

[Gene Kim](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gene-kim/)

## About This Quote

This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation.

Rumor and speculation can delay accurate incident response.

**In simple terms:** Hearsay slows resolution.

Key Takeaway

Rely on data, not rumors.

Themes

communication incident management trust

Mood

analytical pragmatic

Type

technical operational

When to use this quote

- IT outage
- crisis response
- team meetings

Key Concepts

operations risk information flow

Questions to Reflect On

- How to verify information quickly?
- What processes reduce rumor spread?

A Different Perspective

Rumors may sometimes be the only early clue.

★ ★ ★ ★ ★   No ratings yet

[Hearsay](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/hearsay/) [Innocent Quickly](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/innocent-quickly-2699458/) [Rumor](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/rumor/) [Rumor Hearsay](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/rumor-hearsay-2699456/) [Time](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/time/) [Using Rumor](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/using-rumor-2699457/)

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[Percy Bysshe Shelley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/percy-bysshe-shelley/)

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[Martin Heidegger](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/martin-heidegger/)

> [How can what an Englishman believes be hearsay? It is a contradiction in terms.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-bernard-shaw/how-can-what-an-englishman-believes-be-hearsay-it-is-a-contradiction/)

[George Bernard Shaw](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-bernard-shaw/)

> [“Taking your clothes off and spreading yourself on top of Roman Bradford’s desk is a bad idea.” “I was thinking more along the lines…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/taylor-v-donovan/taking-your-clothes-off-and-spreading-yourself-on-top-of-roman/)

[Taylor V. Donovan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/taylor-v-donovan/)

> [ We \[tend to\] have more faith in what we imitate than in what we originate. We \[often feel that we\] cannot derive a sense… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bruce-lee/we-tend-to-have-more-faith-in-what-we-imitate-than-in-what-we/)

[Bruce Lee](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bruce-lee/)

> [I'm trying to deal with ideas about histories, fame, hearsay, and how public identities are constructed.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/barbara-kruger/i-m-trying-to-deal-with-ideas-about-histories-fame-hearsay-and-how/)

[Barbara Kruger](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/barbara-kruger/)

> [It is thus with most of us; we are what other people say we are. We know ourselves chiefly by hearsay.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eric-hoffer/it-is-thus-with-most-of-us-we-are-what-other-people-say-we-are-we/)

[Eric Hoffer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eric-hoffer/)

> [We live in a world, a medieval type of world, where someone can accuse you - through gossip and hearsay, and all of a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rand-paul/we-live-in-a-world-a-medieval-type-of-world-where-someone-can-accuse/)

[Rand Paul](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rand-paul/)

> [The case against Jeff Sessions was threadbare three decades ago. It's based on hearsay and innuendo and a joke he made about the Klan.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rich-lowry/the-case-against-jeff-sessions-was-threadbare-three-decades-ago-it-s/)

[Rich Lowry](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rich-lowry/)

> [For men and women are not only themselves; they are also the region in which they are born, the city apartment or farm in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/w-somerset-maugham/for-men-and-women-are-not-only-themselves-they-are-also-the-region-in/)

[W. Somerset Maugham](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/w-somerset-maugham/)

> [Memory itself is an internal rumour; and when to this hearsay within the mind we add the falsified echoes that reach us from others,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-santayana/memory-itself-is-an-internal-rumour-and-when-to-this-hearsay-within/)

[George Santayana](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-santayana/)

> [So true is it that all transactions of preeminent importance are wrapt in doubt and obscurity; while some hold for certain facts the most…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tacitus/so-true-is-it-that-all-transactions-of-preeminent-importance-are/)

[Tacitus](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tacitus/)

## More by Gene Kim

> [“for those organizations that provided a stock ticker symbol, we found that high performers had 50% higher market capitalization growth over three years. They…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gene-kim/for-those-organizations-that-provided-a-stock-ticker-symbol-we-found/)

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> [“when something does go wrong, we conduct blameless post-mortems, not to punish anyone, but to better understand what caused the accident and how to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gene-kim/when-something-does-go-wrong-we-conduct-blameless-post-mortems-not-to/)

[Gene Kim](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gene-kim/)

> [“Bill Baker, a distinguished engineer at Microsoft, quipped that we used to treat servers like pets: “You name them and when they get sick,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gene-kim/bill-baker-a-distinguished-engineer-at-microsoft-quipped-that-we-used/)

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[Gene Kim](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gene-kim/)

> [“work can bounce between teams endlessly due to incomplete information, or work can be passed onto downstream work centers with problems that remain completely…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gene-kim/work-can-bounce-between-teams-endlessly-due-to-incomplete-information/)

[Gene Kim](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gene-kim/)

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[Gene Kim](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gene-kim/)

> [“habits are what enable mastery.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gene-kim/habits-are-what-enable-mastery/)

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[Explore all 175 Gene Kim quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gene-kim/)

## More Hearsay quotes

> [So true is it that all transactions of preeminent importance are wrapt in doubt and obscurity; while some hold for certain facts the most…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tacitus/so-true-is-it-that-all-transactions-of-preeminent-importance-are/)

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> [The case against Jeff Sessions was threadbare three decades ago. It's based on hearsay and innuendo and a joke he made about the Klan.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rich-lowry/the-case-against-jeff-sessions-was-threadbare-three-decades-ago-it-s/)

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> [It is thus with most of us; we are what other people say we are. We know ourselves chiefly by hearsay.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eric-hoffer/it-is-thus-with-most-of-us-we-are-what-other-people-say-we-are-we/)

[Eric Hoffer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eric-hoffer/)

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[Barbara Kruger](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/barbara-kruger/)

> [ We \[tend to\] have more faith in what we imitate than in what we originate. We \[often feel that we\] cannot derive a sense… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bruce-lee/we-tend-to-have-more-faith-in-what-we-imitate-than-in-what-we/)

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[Taylor V. Donovan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/taylor-v-donovan/)

> [How can what an Englishman believes be hearsay? It is a contradiction in terms.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-bernard-shaw/how-can-what-an-englishman-believes-be-hearsay-it-is-a-contradiction/)

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[Martin Heidegger](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/martin-heidegger/)

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[Percy Bysshe Shelley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/percy-bysshe-shelley/)

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