--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Monitoring is so important that our…" description: "\"“Monitoring is so important that our monitoring systems need to be more available and scalable than the systems being monitored.”\" — Gene Kim" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e75/gene-kim-2268_monitoring_monitoring-is-so-important-that-our-moni_741752.jpg" --- # Monitoring is so important that our monitoring systems… ![“Monitoring is so important that our monitoring systems need to be more available and scalable than the systems being monitored.” quote by Gene Kim](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e75/gene-kim-2268_monitoring_monitoring-is-so-important-that-our-moni_741752.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e75/gene-kim-2268_monitoring_monitoring-is-so-important-that-our-moni_741752.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e75/gene-kim-2268_monitoring_monitoring-is-so-important-that-our-moni_741752.jpg) > ““Monitoring is so important that our monitoring systems need to be more available and scalable than the systems being monitored.”” [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. Monitoring tools must be more reliable and scalable than the systems they observe. **In simple terms:** Monitoring must outscale what it watches. Key Takeaway Build robust, scalable monitoring. Themes operations reliability scalability Mood analytical pragmatic Type technical strategic When to use this quote - IT infrastructure - cloud services - microservices - incident response Key Concepts systems engineering devops risk management Questions to Reflect On - How can you ensure monitoring scales with growth? - What risks arise from over‑reliance on monitoring? A Different Perspective Complex systems can still fail despite monitoring. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Important Monitoring](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/important-monitoring-5789346/) [Monitoring](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/monitoring/) [Monitoring Important](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/monitoring-important-5789345/) [Monitoring Systems](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/monitoring-systems-5789347/) [Systems Monitored](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/systems-monitored-5789348/) ## Related quotes > [UN peacekeeping operations are now increasingly complex and multi-dimensional, going beyond monitoring a ceasefire to actually bringing failed States back to life, often after…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kofi-annan/un-peacekeeping-operations-are-now-increasingly-complex-and-multi/) [Kofi Annan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kofi-annan/) > [As an adult I generally feel this pressure to be thin, not from men, but from other women. As a silent or not-so-silent competition,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kate-christensen/as-an-adult-i-generally-feel-this-pressure-to-be-thin-not-from-men/) [Kate Christensen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kate-christensen/) > [I believe in having each device secured and monitoring each device, rather than just monitoring holistically on the network, and then responding in short…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kevin-mitnick/i-believe-in-having-each-device-secured-and-monitoring-each-device/) [Kevin Mitnick](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kevin-mitnick/) > [Who cares what the state thinks about your relationship? They're giving you tax breaks and this and that - it's just nonsense. You want…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dale-peck/who-cares-what-the-state-thinks-about-your-relationship-they-re/) [Dale Peck](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dale-peck/) > [They had been monitoring the site for a very long time, and at times, I received over 100 hits from the Department of Defense…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sherman-austin/they-had-been-monitoring-the-site-for-a-very-long-time-and-at-times-i/) [Sherman Austin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sherman-austin/) > [God is in the mountains. Impassive, immovable, jagged giants, separating the celestial from the terrestrial with eternal diagonal certainty. As if silently monitoring the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/russell-brand/god-is-in-the-mountains-impassive-immovable-jagged-giants-separating/) [Russell Brand](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/russell-brand/) > [By monitoring auroral activity on exoplanets, we may be able to infer the presence of water on or within an exoplanet.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/heidi-hammel/by-monitoring-auroral-activity-on-exoplanets-we-may-be-able-to-infer/) [Heidi Hammel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/heidi-hammel/) > [A robust internal auditing program shows its presence both at the beginning and end of continual improvement projects. In the beginning, internal audits identify…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-novak/a-robust-internal-auditing-program-shows-its-presence-both-at-the/) [John Novak](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-novak/) > [Europe has been in the grip of a very serious economic crisis for few years, so there have been major cuts to anti-terrorist funding,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/loretta-napoleoni/europe-has-been-in-the-grip-of-a-very-serious-economic-crisis-for-few/) [Loretta Napoleoni](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/loretta-napoleoni/) > [Real equality is immensely difficult to achieve, it needs continual revision and monitoring of distributions. And it does not provide buffers between members, so…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mary-douglas/real-equality-is-immensely-difficult-to-achieve-it-needs-continual/) [Mary Douglas](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mary-douglas/) > [I think the danger right now is that without effective inspections, without effective monitoring, Iraq can in a very short period of time measured…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/scott-ritter/i-think-the-danger-right-now-is-that-without-effective-inspections/) [Scott Ritter](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/scott-ritter/) > [Now, as far as monitoring is concerned, what my point is, we need to make sure that any place - I don't care whether…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/benjamin-carson/now-as-far-as-monitoring-is-concerned-what-my-point-is-we-need-to/) [Benjamin Carson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/benjamin-carson/) > [You can be sure that Judicial Watch is investigating and monitoring the responses of our government to the coronavirus threat.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tom-fitton/you-can-be-sure-that-judicial-watch-is-investigating-and-monitoring/) [Tom Fitton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tom-fitton/) > [It turns out umpires and judges are not robots or traffic cameras, inertly monitoring deviations from a fixed zone of the permissible. They are…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eric-liu/it-turns-out-umpires-and-judges-are-not-robots-or-traffic-cameras/) [Eric Liu](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eric-liu/) > [my dream is someday to have a bank of TVs, where all the different channels could be on and I could be monitoring them.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/camille-paglia/my-dream-is-someday-to-have-a-bank-of-tvs-where-all-the-different/) [Camille Paglia](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/camille-paglia/) ## 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/) [Gene Kim](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gene-kim/) > [“A critical part of the Second Way is making wait times visible, so you know when your work spends days sitting in someone’s queue—or…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gene-kim/a-critical-part-of-the-second-way-is-making-wait-times-visible-so-you/) [Gene Kim](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gene-kim/) > [“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/) [Gene Kim](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gene-kim/) > [“To even get feedback from our integration process would require twenty-four to thirty-six hours.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gene-kim/to-even-get-feedback-from-our-integration-process-would-require/) [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/) > [“practicing five minutes daily is better than practicing once a week for three hours. And if you want to create a genuine culture of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gene-kim/practicing-five-minutes-daily-is-better-than-practicing-once-a-week/) [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/) [Gene Kim](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gene-kim/) > [“20% on detailed planning (Their poor throughput and high lead times were misattributed to faulty estimation, and so, hoping to get a better answer,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gene-kim/20-on-detailed-planning-their-poor-throughput-and-high-lead-times/) [Gene Kim](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gene-kim/) > [“Features are always a gamble. If you’re lucky, ten percent will get the desired benefits.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gene-kim/features-are-always-a-gamble-if-you-re-lucky-ten-percent-will-get-the/) [Gene Kim](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gene-kim/) > [“I listen to Wes and Patty brainstorm ideas to reduce yet another dependency on Brent when something starts to bother me. Erik called WIP,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gene-kim/i-listen-to-wes-and-patty-brainstorm-ideas-to-reduce-yet-another/) [Gene Kim](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gene-kim/) > [The status quo (of development) pre-ordains failure from the very beginning.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gene-kim/the-status-quo-of-development-pre-ordains-failure-from-the-very/) [Gene Kim](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gene-kim/) > [“high performers were twice as likely to exceed profitability, market share, and productivity goals. And,”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gene-kim/high-performers-were-twice-as-likely-to-exceed-profitability-market/) [Gene Kim](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gene-kim/) > [“we value improvement of our daily work more than daily work itself.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gene-kim/we-value-improvement-of-our-daily-work-more-than-daily-work-itself/) [Gene Kim](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gene-kim/) > [“Alert fatigue is the single biggest problem we have right now…We need to be more intelligent about our alerts or we’ll all go insane.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gene-kim/alert-fatigue-is-the-single-biggest-problem-we-have-right-now-we-need/) [Gene Kim](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gene-kim/) [Explore all 175 Gene Kim quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gene-kim/) ## More Monitoring quotes > [UN peacekeeping operations are now increasingly complex and multi-dimensional, going beyond monitoring a ceasefire to actually bringing failed States back to life, often after…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kofi-annan/un-peacekeeping-operations-are-now-increasingly-complex-and-multi/) [Kofi Annan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kofi-annan/) > [It turns out umpires and judges are not robots or traffic cameras, inertly monitoring deviations from a fixed zone of the permissible. They are…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eric-liu/it-turns-out-umpires-and-judges-are-not-robots-or-traffic-cameras/) [Eric Liu](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eric-liu/) > [You can be sure that Judicial Watch is investigating and monitoring the responses of our government to the coronavirus threat.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tom-fitton/you-can-be-sure-that-judicial-watch-is-investigating-and-monitoring/) [Tom Fitton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tom-fitton/) > [Now, as far as monitoring is concerned, what my point is, we need to make sure that any place - I don't care whether…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/benjamin-carson/now-as-far-as-monitoring-is-concerned-what-my-point-is-we-need-to/) [Benjamin Carson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/benjamin-carson/) > [I think the danger right now is that without effective inspections, without effective monitoring, Iraq can in a very short period of time measured…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/scott-ritter/i-think-the-danger-right-now-is-that-without-effective-inspections/) [Scott Ritter](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/scott-ritter/) > [Real equality is immensely difficult to achieve, it needs continual revision and monitoring of distributions. And it does not provide buffers between members, so…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mary-douglas/real-equality-is-immensely-difficult-to-achieve-it-needs-continual/) [Mary Douglas](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mary-douglas/) > [Europe has been in the grip of a very serious economic crisis for few years, so there have been major cuts to anti-terrorist funding,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/loretta-napoleoni/europe-has-been-in-the-grip-of-a-very-serious-economic-crisis-for-few/) [Loretta Napoleoni](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/loretta-napoleoni/) > [A robust internal auditing program shows its presence both at the beginning and end of continual improvement projects. In the beginning, internal audits identify…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-novak/a-robust-internal-auditing-program-shows-its-presence-both-at-the/) [John Novak](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-novak/) > [By monitoring auroral activity on exoplanets, we may be able to infer the presence of water on or within an exoplanet.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/heidi-hammel/by-monitoring-auroral-activity-on-exoplanets-we-may-be-able-to-infer/) [Heidi Hammel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/heidi-hammel/) > [God is in the mountains. Impassive, immovable, jagged giants, separating the celestial from the terrestrial with eternal diagonal certainty. As if silently monitoring the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/russell-brand/god-is-in-the-mountains-impassive-immovable-jagged-giants-separating/) [Russell Brand](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/russell-brand/) > [They had been monitoring the site for a very long time, and at times, I received over 100 hits from the Department of Defense…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sherman-austin/they-had-been-monitoring-the-site-for-a-very-long-time-and-at-times-i/) [Sherman Austin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sherman-austin/) > [Who cares what the state thinks about your relationship? They're giving you tax breaks and this and that - it's just nonsense. You want…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dale-peck/who-cares-what-the-state-thinks-about-your-relationship-they-re/) [Dale Peck](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dale-peck/) > [I believe in having each device secured and monitoring each device, rather than just monitoring holistically on the network, and then responding in short…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kevin-mitnick/i-believe-in-having-each-device-secured-and-monitoring-each-device/) [Kevin Mitnick](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kevin-mitnick/) > [As an adult I generally feel this pressure to be thin, not from men, but from other women. As a silent or not-so-silent competition,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kate-christensen/as-an-adult-i-generally-feel-this-pressure-to-be-thin-not-from-men/) [Kate Christensen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kate-christensen/) > [my dream is someday to have a bank of TVs, where all the different channels could be on and I could be monitoring them.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/camille-paglia/my-dream-is-someday-to-have-a-bank-of-tvs-where-all-the-different/) [Camille Paglia](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/camille-paglia/) [Browse all 121 Monitoring quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/monitoring/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“Monitoring is so important that our monitoring systems need to be more available and scalable than the systems being monitored.”", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Gene Kim" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gene-kim/monitoring-is-so-important-that-our-monitoring-systems-need-to-be/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Monitoring" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gene-kim/monitoring-is-so-important-that-our-monitoring-systems-need-to-be/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e75/gene-kim-2268_monitoring_monitoring-is-so-important-that-our-moni_741752.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e75/gene-kim-2268_monitoring_monitoring-is-so-important-that-our-moni_741752.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e75/gene-kim-2268_monitoring_monitoring-is-so-important-that-our-moni_741752.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“Monitoring is so important that our monitoring systems need to be more available and scalable than the…” — Gene Kim", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } }, { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Quotes", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Gene Kim", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gene-kim/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "“Monitoring is so important that our...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gene-kim/monitoring-is-so-important-that-our-monitoring-systems-need-to-be/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gene-kim/monitoring-is-so-important-that-our-monitoring-systems-need-to-be/#breadcrumb" }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "publisher": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } }, { "@type": "Organization", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "logo": { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/themes/sq/assets/icons/icon-512.png", "width": 512, "height": 512 } } ] } ```