Brett Wines

Hi! :) I’m Brett, a senior staff engineer at Quip/Slack, where I’ve been since 2016. I’m an infrastructure generalist with a specialization in loadshedding systems, but I do my best to balance that with working to address any pain points our engineering organization may face as we grow. My core values at work are acting on feedback, fostering an inclusive environment, and treating my coworkers with kindness.

I’ve lived in California since 2007 and spend most of my spare time in the Sierra Nevada, climbing and shooting photos.

Quip / Slack

Technical contributions

• Slack Core Infrastructure Team (2026–current)
  • DB overload protection
  • adaptive sampling
• Quip Infrastructure Team (2018, 2021–2025)
  • connection state management
  • DB overload protection
  • server overload protection
  • service discovery
  • transaction state management
  • transaction length reduction
  • DB connection locks
  • loadshedding
  • Python runtime
  • various caching projects
  • various resiliency projects
  • various DB performance projects
  • various DB load balancing projects
  • various application performance projects
• Quip EKM (Enterprise Key Management) Tech Lead (2018–2021)
  • led this project from inception to launch to our first customer
  • the system is fault-tolerant and supports hundreds of thousands of en/decryptions per second with minimal end-user latency increase
  • introduced various new auxiliary components along the way, e.g. data serialization layer / generalized caching framework / tracking mechanism for customer data
• Real-time update syncing for Canvas (2022, 2023)
  • co-designed a new system for delivering deltas (patent number 20240195847)
  • heavily optimized the delta delivery path
• advised various projects for other teams, e.g. distributed systems, API design, etc.
• Quip Oncall Rotation TL (2021, 2022)

Operational contributions

• was picked to help update Slack’s engineering expectations
• co-led a multi-year grassroots undertaking to distribute responsibility of maintaining application health
  • introduced ownership labels to code (server paths, services, asynchronous jobs, etc.)
  • redesigned our oncall rotation
  • built production health dashboards for every area
  • led workshops on and wrote documentation for production monitoring
• led an effort to remove noninclusive terminology from our code
• helped introduce “Things I Did documents” to increase IC agency in the people review process

Climbing

• First Ascents:
  • Middle Cathedral Rock, Borealis (VI 5.13a 2200’ 23 pitches) with Brandon Adams, Lance Colley, and Trish Matheny
  • Mt. Winchell, Silver Linings Arête (IV 5.10c 1900’ 12 pitches) with Brandon Adams
  • Mt. Winchell, Training Day (IV 5.10b 1800’ 11 pitches) with Travis Heidepreim
  • The Miter, Janitorial Service (II 5.11a 600’ 6 pitches) with Steph Abegg
• Sierra Nevada:
  • Full Evolution Crest Traverse (south to north) (exited Lamarck Col)
  • Evolution Traverse (to Mt. Wallace in a day)
  • Keeler Needle, Harding Route (direct finish) (c2c)
  • Thunderbolt–Sill Traverse (c2c)
  • Lone Pine Peak, full N ridge (14h c2c)
  • Lone Pine Peak, full NE ridge (c2c)
  • Temple Crag, Dark Star (15h c2c)
  • Temple Crag, Sun Ribbon arête (13h c2c)
  • Incredible Hulk, The Venturi Effect
  • Incredible Hulk, Blowhard (c2c)
  • Bubbs Creek Wall, The Sensei
  • Mt. Chamberlin, The Sword in the Stone
  • Trapezoid Peak, Harvest Time
  • Merriam Peak, Direct N buttress (c2c)
  • Mt. Conness, Harding Route (14h c2c)
  • Mt. Russell, Mithril Dihedral -> Fishhook Arête -> East Ridge
  • Tuolomne Alpine Triple Crown: North Peak, NW ridge -> Mt. Conness, N ridge -> Mt. Conness, W ridge
  • Tuolomne Triple Crown: Tenaya Peak -> Matthes Crest -> Cathedral Peak
  • Regge Pole, Free Radical
  • Incredible Hulk, Astrohulk
  • Incredible Hulk, The Polish Route
  • Incredible Hulk, Yggdrasil / Red Dihedral
  • Clyde Minaret, SE face
  • North Palisade, U-notch
  • The Juggernaut, Cyttorak (c2c)
  • Mt. Whitney, E buttress
  • Bear Creek Spire, N arête
  • Mt. Humphreys, E arête
  • Mt. Emerson, Waterfall Route
• Yosemite:
  • Ribbon Falls Wall, Golden Corners
  • Lost Brother, Wayward Son
  • The Rostrum, Resurrection
  • Liberty Cap, Scarface (Free)
  • Washington Column, Astroman
  • Lost Arrow Spire, Lost Arrow Spire Direct
  • Washington Column, The Prow
  • The Rostrum, North face
  • Sentinel Rock, Steck-Salathé
  • Clouds Rest, My Favorite Things
  • North Dome, Crest Jewel (via Royal Arches)
  • Washington Column, South Face (c2c)
• elsewhere:
  • Colchuck Peak, N Buttress Couloir
  • Mt. Shasta, Hotlum Glacier (via N Ice Gully)
  • Mt. Stuart, Direct N Ridge

Other

• symbol-navigation-hydra, an Emacs package for code navigation
• lifting: 4x5x225lbs low-bar squat
• cycling: Old La Honda 32:15
• I like to spend evenings playing piano. My most recent pieces are Schubert’s fantasie in f and Bach’s partita 2 in c. Some of my favorite pieces from the past are the Chopin e minor concerto (first movt.), Beethoven’s “Les Adieux” sonata, and the Mozart d minor concerto.
• Titling: Fun in the Library

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