Use when performing war room protocol — defines a structured war room protocol for managing major incidents, including role assignments, communication cadences, escalation paths, and decision-making frameworks. This template helps teams respond to critical incidents efficiently by establishing clear procedures before they are needed.
Define when a war room should be activated.
Activate when any of the following are true:
Activation process:
| Role | Responsibility | Current Assignee |
|---|---|---|
| Incident Commander (IC) | Coordinates response, makes decisions, manages timeline | |
| Technical Lead | Drives technical investigation and resolution | |
| Communications Lead | Manages stakeholder updates (internal and external) | |
| Scribe | Documents timeline, actions, and decisions | |
| Subject Matter Experts | Provide domain expertise as needed |
Role Rules:
| Audience | Channel | Frequency | Owner |
|---|---|---|---|
| War room participants | Voice bridge + chat channel | Continuous | IC |
| Engineering leadership | Status update | Every 30 min | Communications Lead |
| Customer support | Status page + internal brief | Every 30 min | Communications Lead |
| Affected customers | Status page / email | Every 60 min or on status change | Communications Lead |
| Executive team | Summary brief | Every 60 min | IC |
Update Template:
Status: Investigating / Identified / Monitoring / Resolved
Impact: [description of customer impact]
Current action: [what is being done right now]
Next update: [time]
Assess (first 15 minutes)
Stabilize (parallel workstreams)
Resolve
Close
[UPDATE], [QUESTION], [ACTION], [FYI]| Shortcut | Counter | Why |
|---|---|---|
| "We can skip some steps for this case" | Adapt the workflow steps, don't skip them | Skipped steps are where incidents and oversights originate |
| "The user seems to already know what to do" | Complete all workflow phases with the user | The workflow catches blind spots that experience alone misses |
| "This is a minor case, full process is overkill" | Scale the process down, don't turn it off | Minor cases become major when unstructured; the process scales, not disappears |
| "I'll fill in the details later" | Complete each section before moving on | Deferred details are forgotten; real-time capture is more accurate |
| "The template output isn't necessary" | Always produce the structured output format | Structured output enables comparison, audit trails, and handoff to other teams |