Communicate (effectively)

Effective communication is crucial during an incident. It's not only about ensuring your team has a shared understanding of the situation but also keeping affected users and stakeholders informed. Here are some strategies to ensure effective communication during an incident:

Proactively Communicate Incidents

Transparency is key in maintaining trust and managing expectations during an incident. By proactively communicating about incidents, your users are less likely to overwhelm your support channels with queries and complaints. Furthermore, transparent communication demonstrates accountability and commitment to resolving issues, which helps build trust with your users.

The screenshot below shows an example of how a status page incident can be created from an alert, informing all subscribers of the status page.

Create an incident from your alerting tool and update your status page

Another way to proactively communicate incidents is directly within your app or service, as illustrated below:

A floating widget that is visible whenever your app is experiencing an incident

Clear and Timely Updates

Keep everyone updated with timely and clear information about the incident. Regular status updates can reduce anxiety and confusion both within your team and amongst your customers.

Dedicated Status Pages

Create dedicated status pages to provide real-time information about the ongoing incident, including affected services, expected resolution time, and ongoing updates. This gives your users a single source of truth and saves your team from being inundated with queries.

Dedicated ilert Status Page

Post-Incident Communication

Once the incident is resolved, communicate the resolution to all affected parties. A post-incident report detailing what happened, how it was resolved, and steps being taken to prevent recurrence can demonstrate your commitment to transparency and continuous improvement.

Communication Training

Provide your team with training on effective communication during incidents. This includes knowing what to say, how to say it, and when to escalate.

Remember, during an incident, communication is as important as the technical response. By ensuring you communicate effectively, you can maintain trust, manage expectations, and minimize disruption for your customers and stakeholders.