baphled/dotopencode/incident-communication

Skill: incident-communication

What I do

I provide a structured approach to communicating during production incidents. I ensure that stakeholders are kept informed with clear, accurate, and timely updates that manage expectations and build trust.

When to use me

• When a production issue is first detected (initial notification)
• To provide regular progress updates during an ongoing incident
• When a workaround is identified or the issue is resolved
• When drafting a post-resolution summary or "post-mortem" notice

Core principles

1. Be transparent, not speculative — Share what is known and confirmed. Avoid guessing root causes until verified.
2. Consistent cadence — Provide updates at regular intervals, even if there is no new progress to report.
3. Appropriate tone — Be professional, calm, and empathetic to affected users.
4. Blameless language — Focus on the technical failure and its resolution, not on individual mistakes.

Patterns & examples

Initial Notification Template:

Investigating: We are aware of an issue impacting [Service Name]. Our engineering team is currently investigating. We will provide an update within the next [Timeframe, e.g., 30 minutes].

Impact: [Briefly describe what users are seeing, e.g., API requests are failing with 500 errors].

Regular Update Template:

Update: We have identified a potential cause related to [Area, e.g., database connection pooling] and are currently testing a mitigation. Next update in [Timeframe].

Resolution Notification Template:

Resolved: The issue with [Service Name] has been resolved. All systems are operating normally. We will perform a full internal review to prevent recurrence.

Anti-patterns to avoid

• ❌ Silent treatment — Long periods of silence during a major incident can cause panic and frustration.
• ❌ Over-technical jargon — Keep external communications understandable for all stakeholders.
• ❌ Promising unrealistic ETAs — Only provide timelines that are achievable and conservative.

KB Reference

~/vaults/baphled/3. Resources/Knowledge Base/AI Development System/Skills/Communication-Writing/Incident Communication.md

Related skills

• incident-response — Technical coordination and mitigation
• email-communication — Professional communication patterns
• blameless-postmortem — Learning from failures without assigning fault
• systems-thinker — Understanding complex dependencies and impact