Data Incident Postmortem
Docs + Word8 pages
FreeIncident postmortem templates
5 templates
All templates
Customer-Facing Incident Report
Docs + Word6 pages
Free
Incident Postmortem
Docs + Word9 pages
Free
One-Page Incident Report
Docs + Word2 pages
Free
Postmortem Review Deck
Slides + PowerPoint12 slides
Free- Browse all templates
Compare incident postmortem versions
 Data Incident Postmortem |  Customer-Facing Incident Report |  Incident Postmortem |  One-Page Incident Report | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Format | Document | Document | Document | Document |
| Works in | Google Docs and Word | Google Docs and Word | Google Docs and Word | Google Docs and Word |
| Length | 8 pages | 6 pages | 9 pages | 2 pages |
| Style | Minimal | Modern | Modern | Minimal |
Writing an incident postmortem that gets read
An incident postmortem is a blameless review of an outage. It records what happened and what will stop it happening again.
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Cover summary and impact, timeline, root cause, what went well, what went wrong, and follow-up actions with owners.
Focus on how the system allowed the failure, not on who made the mistake.
Compare Data Incident Postmortem, Customer-Facing Incident Report, and Incident Postmortem, all 2 to 12 pages long, then pick the closest match and replace the sample text with your own.
Questions
What is an incident postmortem?
An incident postmortem is a blameless review of an outage. It records what happened and what will stop it happening again.
What should an incident postmortem include?
Include summary and impact, timeline, root cause, what went well, what went wrong, and follow-up actions with owners. Focus on how the system allowed the failure, not on who made the mistake.
What is the best incident postmortem template to begin from?
Start with Data Incident Postmortem: A blameless review of a bad-data incident that shows impact, root cause, backfill and owned action items. If that is not the right fit, compare it with Customer-Facing Incident Report.
How many pages does an incident postmortem need?
The templates here are 2 to 12 pages long. Cut any section you do not need; each template explains what its sections are for.
Can I make an incident postmortem in Google Docs?
Yes. These incident postmortem templates work in Google Docs, Microsoft Word, Google Slides, and Microsoft PowerPoint. All 5 templates are free, with no account or email needed.