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PROCESSES

Post-Incident Review

A meeting to analyze what happened during an incident and identify improvements.

Post-Incident Review

A meeting to analyze what happened during an incident and identify improvements.

## Learning from Failure You already paid for the incident (in downtime and stress). The **Post-Incident Review (PIR)** is where you get value for that money. ### Why PIRs Fail Most PIRs are boring forms that people fill out to satisfy compliance. "Root Cause: Bug. Action: Fixed Bug." **This is useless.** ### A Good PIR Asks: * How did we detect it? (Could we detect it faster?) * How did we respond? (Did we have the right tools?) * Why did the system allow this invalid state? * What **process** failed? (Code Review? QA? Deploy pipeline?) ### Timing Hold the PIR within **24-48 hours** while memories are fresh. Invite the responders and stakeholders.

ExThe "Human Error"

"A junior engineer accidentally deleted the production database."

Impact
24 hours of downtime recovering from backups.
Resolution
The PIR did *not* punish the engineer. It asked: "Why was it so easy to delete production?" The outcome was a new safe-guard that requires multi-party approval for deletion.

Why Post-Incident Review Matters

Without review, you'll repeat the same incidents. Post-incident reviews drive learning.

Focus on process and systems, not people. Blame stops learning.

Common Pitfalls

Counterfactuals
Avoid saying "If user X had checked the logs...". They didn't. Focus on why the system was opaque.

How to Use Post-Incident Review

🤝
Blameless: Focus on what, not who.
⏱️
Within 1 Week: Hold while details are fresh.
✅
Action Items: Every review produces concrete improvements.

Related Terms

Blameless PostmortemIncident ResponseMTTR

Frequently Asked Questions

Do we need a PIR for every incident?
For SEV0 and SEV1: Yes, always. For SEV2: Optional but recommended. For SEV3: No.
Who runs the meeting?
Ideally, someone neutral who was not involved in the incident (a facilitator) to ensure objectivity.

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