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BLOG
OPS · TEMPLATE · 5 MIN READ
Incident updates customers actually trust.
Four-state model. Three sentence templates. The structure that works whether you're updating customers during a one-hour blip or a six-hour outage.
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STATES
The four-state model.
- 01 · IdentifiedWE SEE IT
- 02 · InvestigatingWE'RE WORKING ON IT
- 03 · MitigatedIMPACT IS REDUCED, NOT GONE
- 04 · ResolvedFULL SERVICE RESTORED
Skipping mitigated is the most common mistake — it's also the state customers care most about, because it's when the workaround starts working.
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FIRST
The first update template.
[TIME UTC] We're investigating reports of [SYMPTOM] affecting [SCOPE]. We'll post the next update by [TIME +30 MIN]. — Status Portal
Three rules: (1) commit to the next update time, not "shortly", (2) describe the symptom not the cause, (3) name the scope.
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RECOVERY
Recovery and post-mortem hook.
The resolution update should answer three customer questions: is it really over?, what was it?, and what's next?
[TIME UTC] Resolved. The issue was [BRIEF CAUSE]. Total impact: [DURATION + SCOPE]. We'll publish a full post-mortem by [DATE]. — Status Portal
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