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Brendan Gregg

Brendan Gregg

@brendan-gregg · 17 positions · On ppll ↗

Computer performance engineer working on datacenter performance at OpenAI, previously Netflix and Sun/Joyent. Author of Systems Performance and BPF Performance Tools, and creator of flame graphs.

Brendan Gregg did not write this page.

We collected these quotes from things they published elsewhere, and every quote links to where it was said. They have no account here and have not endorsed this site. Quotes are word for word; the short line under each one is our own restatement, not their wording. Their own site. Is this you? Claim it or ask us to remove it. Or tell us what is wrong here.

2 of Brendan Gregg's claims fit 1 mental models. Most often: Second-order thinking.

Models we see in what they say

Our reading: their claim applies the idea without naming it. The claim is theirs; filing it here is ours.

Second-order thinking

Ask "and then what?": follow a decision past its first effect to the ones that come after.

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Monitoring tools that do periodic work can themselves cause the latency outliers they were installed to diagnose.

  1. Brendan Gregg Computer performance engineer working on datacenter performance at OpenAI One performance anti-pattern is when a company, to debug one performance problem, installs a monitoring tool that periodically does work and causes application latency outliers. When to Hire a Computer Performance Engineering Team (2025) part 1 of 2brendangregg.com · 3 Aug 2025All korrents from this piece
    Their wordsOne performance anti-pattern is when a company, to debug one performance problem, installs a monitoring tool that periodically does work and causes application latency outliers.

    ↗When to Hire a Computer Performance Engineering Team (2025) part 1 of 2brendangregg.com

    3 Aug 2025

Relying on AI to replace performance engineers reduces an organization's overall technical expertise over time.

  1. Brendan Gregg Computer performance engineer working on datacenter performance at OpenAI If a company spends less on performance engineers as it's considered AI'd, it will reduce the company's effective "performance IQ." On "AI Brendans" or "Virtual Brendans"brendangregg.com · 27 Nov 2025All korrents from this piece
    Their wordsIf a company spends less on performance engineers as it's considered AI'd, it will reduce the company's effective "performance IQ."

    ↗On "AI Brendans" or "Virtual Brendans"brendangregg.com

    27 Nov 2025