Roleplay Scenario
Scenario Overview
Your team recently resolved a significant incident that impacted customers. As the incident leader, you’re now facilitating a post-incident review. The goal is to extract learnings, identify process improvements, and ensure the team feels supported—without letting the session turn into a blame game.
Roles & Setup
Role A – Incident Leader (You)
You're facilitating the review meeting.
Your goal: Foster a safe, constructive environment that focuses on learning and improvement.
Role B – On-Call Engineer
You were the first responder to the incident.
Your goal: Share your experience and suggest improvements to the incident response process.
Role C – Senior Engineer (Optional)
You provided expertise during the incident resolution.
Your goal: Offer insights on technical gaps and suggest longer-term solutions.
Role D – Product Manager (Optional)
You coordinated with stakeholders and communicated updates.
Your goal: Discuss customer impact and propose ways to improve communication.
Suggested Openers
Incident Leader:
- “Thanks for coming, everyone. Let’s talk through the incident timeline and figure out what we can do better next time.”
- “Our focus today is understanding what happened and how we can improve. This is about learning, not blaming.”
On-Call Engineer:
- “I handled the initial alert and can walk you through what happened, including some challenges I encountered.”
- “I’ve got a few ideas on how we could make our response process smoother.”
Senior Engineer:
- “I’m here to help identify any technical gaps we noticed and how we might address them moving forward.”
- “I can also offer suggestions on where we might enhance our monitoring and alerting.”
Product Manager:
- “I’ll cover the customer impact and how we could improve communication during incidents.”
- “I’d like to discuss stakeholder feedback and how to better handle it in the future.”
Sample Roleplay in Action
Incident Leader:
“Thanks, everyone, for joining. Let’s start by going over the timeline of the incident. Remember, our goal is to improve for next time, not to point fingers. On-call engineer, can you kick us off?”
On-Call Engineer:
“Sure thing. I got the alert around 2 AM and initially dismissed it as a false alarm due to recent updates. Our dashboards didn’t show anything unusual, which slowed us down.”
Senior Engineer:
“That’s an area we need to work on. Our monitoring should cover these edge cases better. Let’s figure out what we can do to improve this.”
Product Manager:
“From my side, customers began noticing issues about 30 minutes in. We didn’t have a clear communication plan, which led to some confusion. Pre-drafted messages could really help here.”
Incident Leader:
“Great observations. Let’s note the need for monitoring improvements and a communication plan as action items. Anything else we should consider?”
On-Call Engineer:
“A clearer escalation path would be beneficial. I wasn’t sure who to call right away, and that cost us some time.”
Incident Leader:
“Good point. Let’s work on clarifying our escalation procedures. Senior Engineer, any ideas on supporting these improvements?”
Senior Engineer:
“I’ll draft a plan to enhance our monitoring and work with the team to refine escalation paths.”
Product Manager:
“I’ll prepare some templates for communication during incidents, so we’re ready next time.”
Incident Leader:
“Perfect. Let’s check in on these actions next week. Thanks, everyone, for your openness and ideas. This will help us be even better prepared in the future.”
Post-Scenario Tools
Curveball Mode (Optional)
Introduce one of these during the roleplay to test adaptability:
- Someone gets defensive and shifts blame.
- New information surfaces that changes the incident timeline.
- A stakeholder joins unexpectedly and demands immediate answers.
Reflection Checklist
As the Incident Leader:
- Did you maintain a focus on learning and improvement?
- Did you create a safe space for open discussion?
- Did you ensure clear action items were identified?
As a Participant:
- Did you share your insights constructively?
- Did you listen to others and build on their suggestions?
- Did you avoid blaming and instead focus on solutions?
Common Mistakes to Avoid
- Allowing the session to turn into a blame game.
- Not capturing concrete actions for improvement.
- Focusing too much on past events without planning future improvements.
Pro Tip
Frame the review as a shared opportunity for growth. Emphasize that every incident, big or small, is a chance to strengthen your team's approach and resilience.