Building Your First Runbook: A Template That Actually Works

Most runbooks are useless. Either they're too abstract ('check the logs') or they're a 40-page Confluence doc that nobody reads at 3 AM. Here is the template I use. It fits on one page and works. The template 1. Trigger. The exact alert name and what it means. 2. Impact. Who is affected? What are they seeing? Is this user-facing? 3. First 5 minutes. The single most useful command to run. One. Not five. 4. Common causes. The 3 things that most often cause this alert, in order of likelihood. 5. Fi