The Meaning of Shift-Left

Shift-left refers to the practice of tiering IT requests based on their complexity. By handling simpler and more routine issues at a lower tier—often by junior staff or automated systems—organizations allow senior engineers to focus on higher-priority problems. I spoke to SolarWinds Observability Manager Howard Williams Jr. to discuss the many benefits of adopting this approach.

Shielding Senior Engineers from Mundane Tasks

It’s a familiar story. IT departments have too much work and not enough resources to manage it all. Teams often rely on just a few experienced network and system engineers to oversee a multitude of responsibilities. These individuals are tasked with managing everything from minor user issues to major engineering projects. “There are a limited number of brilliant engineers in the industry, and acquiring top talent is a challenge,” says Howard. “It would be ideal to have multiple clones of our best engineers, but that’s not possible. Ideally, I would expect my more senior engineers to work on upcoming projects. They might be involved with the next generation of technology or general architectural optimizations. For example, the network team recently rolled out a new wireless system along with cloud management improvements and several enhancements to guest portals and other features. That’s a substantial project where, if you're involved in designing it and then delivering it across, say, dozens of sites globally, there are a lot of moving pieces to manage at once. If you're also being interrupted by requests, like someone in a different department needing access to a specific subnet, it can slow your workflow.” A shift-left approach helps ensure that all requests are managed by the appropriate level of expertise.

Shift-Left in Action

Let's break down how the model looks in practice.

  • Categorize requests: First, teams must categorize different types of requests and issues according to complexity.
  • Design runbooks to remediate issues: For the model to succeed, runbooks must be designed carefully, considering various factors that may affect tier one support capabilities. This reduces unnecessary escalations. The design and effectiveness of runbooks depend on the complexity of the technical environment; more detailed environments require more nuanced runbooks.
  • Issue resolution with runbooks: Level-one technicians use predefined runbooks created by senior technicians to troubleshoot and solve problems.
  • Escalation process: If a level-one technician cannot resolve an issue, they can quickly escalate it to a more experienced senior team member.

Howard says: “On the left side of the stack, you'll find tasks related to ticketing, triaging incidents, and handling alerts coming in through the Network Operations Center (NOC). On the right side, you have roles focused on engineering and designing upcoming projects. Here, we deal with more significant problems that can’t be resolved with a standard runbook.”

Key Benefits of a Shift-Left Model

So, what immediate impact can you expect the adoption of a shift-left model to have on your operations?

  • Accelerated response times: “If we simply distributed general tickets evenly among the team, it would overwhelm them,” says Howard. “You may have had a ticket sitting for 30 to 45 days. When we first started this, we had done some KPI work and found that tickets were averaging 30 to 45 days with the network team because they prioritized projects over tickets. However, now we have KPIs that aim for closure on all those tickets within a couple of hours. I believe the mean time to respond (MTTR) and mean time to acknowledge (MTTA) have improved by at least 30%.”
  • Breaking down silos: Without a structured approach, unresolved issues often end up in specific queues without proper communication. By utilizing platforms that allow for a comprehensive view of all ecosystems, it becomes possible to identify the source of problems and track data throughout the systems. When a dedicated team serves as the initial contact for problem resolution, it facilitates faster issue resolution by collaborating with all affected parties.
  • Reduced costs: Shift-left lets leaders optimize their workforce. When more commonplace tasks are categorized properly, they can afford to hire more junior engineers who command lower salaries than experienced technicians. The more expensive members of staff can be deployed on projects whose importance reflects their pay grade.

Shift-Left Model as a Talent Pipeline

In the midst of a talent shortage in the IT industry, one exciting advantage of a shift-left model is that it serves as a talent pipeline, helping organizations identify and develop their future engineers. Howard says, “Instead of hiring six senior engineers, we can employ six junior engineers. Some may have their CCNA but are new to cloud technology. They are learning about Software-Defined Networking (SDN), containerization, and networking within environments like Azure. There is so much to learn in this evolving landscape, especially for those transitioning from on-premises environments. We can assign them dedicated tasks that familiarize them with our environment, help them understand our change management policies, identify critical processes, and grow through training, mentorship, and certifications while they work.”

Shift-left also creates opportunities for internships, as well as an avenue for individuals moving from other teams within the organization. Often, end-user support staff are brought in to assist with ticket management, generating excellent learning opportunities for them. In the early stages, the roles require more general knowledge and runbook tasks. As newer engineers begin handling these tasks, leaders can gradually identify the more talented or experienced individuals within that group. Those eager to learn stand out; they seek higher-level tasks and mentorship from senior engineers. This approach promotes internal movement and outlines clear career paths. Howard notes: “We’re establishing distinct career trajectories that guide individuals from the NOC to network, systems, and database roles—all within our ecosystem. These clear pathways for progression can’t exist in a chaotic environment where everyone is just troubleshooting.”

Implementing a Shift-Left Model in Your Organization

“One of the important steps we took early on was getting buy-in from the top management,” Howard notes. “I met with each of the teams—my customers, as I call them—to discuss their pain points. We talked about how we could facilitate a smoother process and strengthen collaboration to eliminate the silos. I held meetings with team after team, worked with all the managers, and conducted weekly manager meetings with these teams. I provided them with statistics based on my observations, looking at ticket data and alerts, providing insights to help improve our mean time to resolution and response times (MTTR). We continue to leverage this approach and have even involved more teams from the business side. Initially, we focused on IT; now, we are expanding to include development and DevOps teams, looking at critical services, and identifying ways to communicate and collaborate effectively.”

Ready to set some useful targets for your team? Check out our guide to setting proper KPIs.