Incident Response doesn’t have to be painful: Common pitfalls and recommendations


This post challenges misconceptions about chaotic on-call and livesite practices, offering lessons from extensive experience. It introduces common red flags like call hell, hero worship, and the wild west, and provides solutions. These include customer-focused monitoring, monitoring pruning, 1-2-3 troubleshooting rule, follow-the-sun schedules, and repair item deadlines. As services mature, standardized incident response and efficient toil control practices become crucial.