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We believe you create two types of actions during an incident – those that need doing now and those that should be followed up after an incident has been closed. Actions that need doing now might be:
  • Reboot that server
  • Send some comms to an affected customer
While follow-ups could be:
  • Improve test coverage of a given codepath
  • Share the debrief document with all affected customers
You can learn more about actions here.

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How do I create follow-ups?

There are three ways you can do this:
  1. React with the :fast_forward: emoji to any Slack message within the incident channel
A Slack prompt asking Should we create a follow-up from this message?, with Yes, create follow-up You can then export the follow-up to an issue tracker, via the Incident Homepage (or directly in Slack for any connected issue tracker). A follow-up menu on the incident homepage, with options to create or link a GitHub, Jira, or Linear issue
  1. Use the command /inc follow-up, to create new follow-ups and post any open follow-ups within the channel
The Slack Follow-ups modal, with Add new follow-up and Post open follow-ups in channel
  1. Create the follow-up directly in your issue tracker, and paste a link into the Slack channel
Slack confirming a pasted issue link was added as a follow-up, with an Undo button
  1. Import an existing ticket from your issue tracker as a follow-up, from the incident homepage in the dashboard

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What can I do with follow-ups?

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Editing follow-ups

If a follow-up is exported to an external issue tracker like Jira, we’ll listen for changes and keep the follow-up in line on our side. The tracker then owns the title, description, status, owner and labels, so that’s where you edit them. See issue tracker sync for the trackers we support and exactly which fields sync in which direction. If it isn’t exported, you can manage it via Slack (using /inc follow-ups) or via the incident homepage from the Follow-ups tab. You can also assign a Priority to a follow-up, to help drive Policies and communicate the difference between follow-ups. You can read more about Follow-up Priorities. You can assign follow-ups to a Team as well as an individual user, which is useful when you know which team owns the work but not yet who will do it. Follow-ups can also be tagged with Labels, which can be used for filtering, and which sync in from your issue tracker once a follow-up is exported to it.

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Tracking follow-ups

You can track follow-ups from the Follow-ups page in the web dashboard. This allows you to see the status of follow-ups across all your incidents, as well as take actions such as sending reminders and bulk-editing follow-ups. The Follow-ups tab, with open follow-ups, policy violations, and a split by Severity