Write the runbook for an alert that fires without one
An alert that pages somebody with no instructions, given a runbook verified against the real dashboards.
The ticket
Write the runbook for an alert that currently has none.
Acceptance criteria
- Every step names the dashboard, query, or command it needs
- Each step has been run and confirmed
- It states how to tell whether the step worked
- It is linked from the alert definition
What lands as proof
Every command and link exercised, so the runbook works for somebody who did not write it.
Why teams defer it
- The person who knows what to do has never needed to write it down.
- A runbook written from memory rather than from a real firing is usually wrong in the details that matter.
Questions
- What does the agent actually change?
- The ticket is scoped to one outcome: write the runbook for an alert that currently has none. Work that serves that outcome is in scope, and anything outside it is left for a separate ticket, so the pull request stays reviewable.
- How do I know the work is done?
- The pull request carries the evidence, not only the diff. Here that means every step verified against the real dashboards, so a reviewer can confirm the result without reproducing the work locally.
- How much oversight does this need?
- The run stops once the plan is written. Somebody reads the approach and approves it before any code exists, which is the cheapest moment to redirect the work.