How to Tame Chaos with a Major Incident Management (MIM) Process That Actually Works.

1. Forget the doubt: If it looks like a fire, pull the alarm

The most common mistake is wasting precious time debating whether the problem is "serious enough." A friendly but effective process has clear rules: if it impacts revenue or user experience, it's a Major Incident. Full stop.

• The outcome you're after: Stop losing minutes in "what's happening" meetings and move straight to action. Detecting fast means fixing fast.

2. Someone has to be behind the wheel (and it's not the technician)

Imagine you're performing surgery and every 5 minutes the hospital director walks in asking "how's it going?" You can't make progress, right? That's exactly why you need a Major Incident Manager (MIM).

This person is the shield for the technical team: they handle communication with executives and clients so engineers can focus on what they do best — finding the solution to the Incident.

• The outcome you're after: Zero distractions for the technical team and a War Room where everyone knows exactly what their role is.

3. Patch first, investigate later

During a major incident, technical elegance takes a back seat. This is not the moment to find the perfect long-term solution; it's the moment to get the service back online. If restarting the server or switching to a backup node works — do it!

• The outcome you're after: Getting your users their service back as quickly as possible. The deep-dive investigation ("why did this happen?") comes afterward.

4. Keep everyone in the loop (without letting it eat your time)

Silence is the worst enemy. If you say nothing, people assume the worst. A solid practice is sending quick, honest updates every 30 minutes. You don't need an essay — just: "We're still working on it, we've identified the source, estimated time: 20 min."

• The outcome you're after: Trust. When people know you have it under control, they stop calling every two minutes to ask for a status update.

5. Learn from the hit (the post-mortem)

When the service comes back up, everyone wants to go to sleep — but the most important part is still ahead: the post-incident review. This isn't about finding someone to blame; it's about understanding what failed and how to prevent it from happening again.

• The outcome you're after: Turning a terrible day into a lesson that makes your system stronger for next time.

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In summary: It's not about avoiding failure — it's about mastering the response

At the end of the day, technology will fail; that's a certainty, not a possibility. But a Major Incident doesn't have to mean trauma for your team or total loss for your company.

The real difference between chaos and operational excellence comes down to three pillars: fast decisions, clear roles, and honest communication (try Radical Candor — ISBN-13: 978-1250103505). When you prioritize restoring service to your users over finding a "culprit" or implementing the most elegant solution, you demonstrate that you understand what matters most: business value.

References: Radical Candor by Kim Scott