5 Things Chaos Engineering Can Do for Your Small Business

When it was first established back in 2010, chaos engineering caught the attention of business owners everywhere. Despite its controversial practices and suggestions, it is a viable asset for any company wanting to understand where its weaknesses are and how they withstand pressure and problems. Here are five things this approach can do for your small business, and why it is a valuable route to take. 

What is the Main Purpose of Chaos Engineering?

This method of testing was created to build resilience in the inner and outer workings of any venture. When something goes wrong for a business, the repercussions can be devastating, it can turn customers away from the platform, and ultimately cost a lot of money that didn’t need to go to waste. Chaos engineering is a way to combat this from being necessary in the first place by making sure that problems can be dealt with quickly and efficiently. 

Resiliency

When a system is weak it lacks resilience. To build resilience through chaos engineering, controlled issues are introduced. Methods can then be found for addressing a range of potential mishaps and natural resilience is accumulated. So, if and when disaster strikes, the team will be ready and better prepared. 

Reliability

It can also expose flaws and faults in the system and therefore highlight these to the in-house team. Through the process of finding weak links that may cause destruction, there is an increased ability for preventative strategies to be implemented. Therefore, the product becomes more reliable thanks to this. 

Teamwork

A team is only as good as its response rate and collaboration abilities. If a group of professionals does not know how to navigate and delegate and lean on one another, a company is disjointed. There is more chance of an error being rectified when a team knows how to tap into each other, and the varied skill sets on offer. Chaos Engineering provides an opportunity for cooperative management and shared goals so that if something unexpected comes around, they have an increased instinctive workplace alliance.  

Problem Response Times

So, largely thanks to the increased ability of the collective, when problems happen, they are better capable of responding in a more favorable timeframe. Instead of solutions taking days and weeks, they take hours and minutes because there have been practices beforehand and everyone is better prepared generally. 

Performance Updates

Lastly, the performance of software and general applications is also allowed to improve through this method. There is an increase in confidence, trust, and assurance from internal proceedings which means the product going out to the consumer is one that has higher credibility. 

Chaos engineering is taking root globally, and the benefits speak for themselves. There are many solutions companies may choose to take in order to deal with problems and such, yet none are as hands on as this one. Throwing the team into the fold means they have hands-on, responsive experience in how to address common and potential errors that could cause problems along the way. It increases knowledge and builds trust, and therefore reputation. 

Adam Hansen
 

Adam is a part time journalist, entrepreneur, investor and father.