Discover a comprehensive approach to bootstrapping and organizing an SRE team in this 52-minute conference talk from SREcon17 Americas. Learn from experienced SRE leaders as they share insights on managing stakeholder expectations, defining success metrics, and implementing a phased strategy for team development. Explore practical tips for establishing clear purpose and scope, implementing essential tools and processes, and transitioning to a proactive operational model. Gain valuable knowledge on expanding the engineering team, implementing an SRE rotation model, and successfully taking over services. Benefit from lessons learned and avoid common pitfalls in the SRE journey, including understanding the distinctions between DevOps and SRE roles.