Incidents and demand.
WHAT PRESSURE LOOKS LIKE IN IT
A major outage Many simultaneous requests An escalation from senior people Something you cannot resolve
WHAT TO DO IN A MAJOR INCIDENT
Establish scope before acting Communicate early and regularly Escalate promptly Record times and actions Resist changing several things at once
WHY THAT LAST ONE
Under pressure, people change everything and lose track of what caused what.
WHAT TO DELEGATE
Communication, so the person diagnosing can diagnose.
WHAT TO DO WHEN YOU DO NOT KNOW
Say so, and escalate.
WHY
Persisting alone while service is down is the expensive option.
WHAT TO DO ABOUT SUSTAINED HIGH DEMAND
Raise it specifically: what cannot be done, and what would have to change.
WHY SPECIFICALLY
It invites a decision rather than sympathy.
WHAT TO PROTECT
Rest, which degrades judgement when lost.
WHAT TO DO AFTERWARDS
Review what happened, without blame, and change what allowed it.