Kimmy's Skills

Checkout outage — 47 minutes — Presentation Requirements

Source: ../incident-postmortem.html · Type: Incident postmortem · Audience: Engineering and operations leadership · Mode: Hybrid readout + written report · Time: 15 min + 10 Q&A Fictional case. The deck is the current implementation; this file captures the brief, structure, and acceptance.

1. Audience and intent

Engineering and operations leadership; incident responders.

Intent: Learn, agree actions, and restore trust without assigning blame.

Decision or action: Approve the six actions and owners; accept the residual risk until closed.

Success: The room can explain the trigger, the amplifier, and the systemic gap.

2. Narrative

Impact → timeline → root cause → contributing factors → strengths → actions → metrics → lesson.

Slide sequence

#	Slide	Budget	Purpose / speaker cue
1	Checkout outage — 47 minutes	1	Set the frame: blameless, evidence-first, actions over blame.
2	Impact	1	Lead with impact, not the deploy.
3	Timeline	2	Walk the timeline in 90 seconds.
4	Root cause	3	Separate trigger from amplifier.
5	Contributing factors	2	Four factors, each with a consequence.
6	What went well	1	Name the strengths.
7	Actions	3	Do not read every row.
8	Detection and response	1	The gap is mitigation, not detection.
9	The lesson	1	One lesson, one sentence.
10	Appendix	10	Q&A.

3. Evidence and fact-check

Timeline, logs, config diff, gateway trace. The incident and numbers are fictional; reconcile with the written report before delivery.

Fact-check gate: confirm names, numbers, dates, and comparisons before layout. A precise number without a date and source is a liability.

4. Language and delivery

Blameless, plain, past tense; separate trigger from amplifier; no euphemism.

5. Visual and accessibility

Light, red accent, monospace timeline; one timeline and one action table; readable in print. Cover uses a night operations photograph, not a server room.

6. Time and structure

15 minutes plus 10 Q&A. Must-cut: log detail and individual action rows; protect impact, root cause, and actions. (total budget: 25 minutes)

Q&A: prepare the ten most likely questions and one honest answer for each. Do not improvise a fact.

7. Verification

• Titles-only read: read the slide titles in order. The argument must hold without the body.
• Timed run: rehearse to a hard stop, record it, and cut from the must-cut list.
• Evidence: every number and comparison has a source, date, and range where relevant.
• Visual: check at presentation size, in grayscale, and in the exported file.
• Accessibility: alt text, reading order, contrast, color-not-alone, reduced motion, captions/transcript.
• Print: one slide per page, notes hidden, no clipped content.
• Check every claim against the written report; read the timeline aloud; confirm owners and dates.

8. Non-goals and open questions

Risks: Blame framing; actions without owners; hiding a contributing factor.

Open: Replace fictional data; confirm legal and communications review; decide whether to include customer quotes.

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