Postmortem Template
Document incidents to avoid repeating mistakes.
A postmortem (or post-incident review) is the analysis of an incident after resolution. The goal is not to blame, but to learn and improve.
This template structures your analysis to ensure nothing is forgotten: timeline, impact, root cause, and corrective actions.
The best teams do postmortems for all significant incidents. It's the most profitable investment to improve your reliability.
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Frequently Asked Questions
When to write the postmortem?
Within 24-48h after the incident, while memories are fresh. Waiting too long loses details.
Who should participate in writing?
Anyone involved in detection, diagnosis, or resolution. More perspectives = better analysis.
Should the postmortem be published?
For major public incidents, yes. Transparency builds trust. Adjust detail level accordingly.
How to avoid it becoming a blame exercise?
Blameless culture: focus on systems, not people. "The system allowed the error" rather than "X made an error."
Should every incident have a postmortem?
For significant incidents (> 10 min, user impact). Micro-incidents can be grouped monthly.
How to track corrective actions?
Create tickets, assign owners, set deadlines. Review during team retrospectives.
Learn from Every Incident
A well-done postmortem transforms a negative experience into lasting improvement. Don't let any incident go to waste.
MoniTao provides the exact timeline of each incident, making it easy to write accurate, factual postmortems.
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