3 steps · Incident response
Prepare an incident response
Draft a runbook, work through an example and record the gaps to resolve.
BringA service owner, a known failure scenario, escalation contacts and recovery criteria.
Finish withA runbook draft with an exercise record and an action list for the gaps it exposed.
Step 1
Draft the procedure
Choose a known failure in one service. The builder connects its symptom with access requirements, diagnostic branches, mitigation and escalation; the examples show how those parts fit together.
Before moving on: Replace the example’s service details with the intended procedure, while retaining the practice-data label for the rehearsal.
Save a file draft so you can reopen and revise it during the exercise.
Step 2
Rehearse the response
Walk through the procedure in a practice scenario and record when the responder notices the symptom, begins investigating and attempts each mitigation. Notes about stalled steps explain the resulting intervals.
Before moving on: The timestamps describe this exercise. Keep them marked as practice so a later report does not mix them with production incident measurements.
Review the report and use Prepare next draft to carry exercise findings into the action tracker.
Step 3
Assign the readiness gaps
Turn the points where the rehearsal stalled into actions: unavailable access, an ambiguous branch or a recovery check that could not be performed. Each action needs someone responsible for resolving that specific gap.
Before moving on: The verification plan should repeat the step that failed in rehearsal and show what now lets the responder continue.
Download the action register. You can also transfer a selected action back into a runbook draft.