Love that first one (attribution error, tendency to over-estimate individual influence and under-estimate systematic effect). It's one of the biggest pitfalls I

Love that first one (attribution error, tendency to over-estimate individual influence and under-estimate systematic effect). It's one of the biggest pitfalls I've seen in software (or any industry, really, but let's talk about software). When something goes wrong, it's so easy to pull the "accountable party" into the CTO's office and give him an earful, but it is so wrong, so ineffective, and so anti-progress it's not even funny. Not funny at all. The correct solution is the blameless post-mortem that Etsy does, as mentioned. Kill all fear of punishment, bring out the honesty and systemic analysis, and recognize the complex factors involved to come up with a real solution. This type of thing is exactly what's required for a successful engineering culture, and for quality to be able to flourish. Give in to your reptilian instincts to get mad at a figurehead, however, and you'll kill your company culture and your quality all at once.