How to Communicate During a Major Incident | MIM Leadership Updates Explained — Transcript

Full transcript

1. 0:00All right, let's get right into it. When
2. 0:02a major incident hits, you know, the
3. 0:04system's down, customers are freaking
4. 0:05out, our first instinct is to just fix
5. 0:08the problem, right? But what if I told
6. 0:10you that fixing the technical issue is
7. 0:11really only half the battle? Today,
8. 0:14we're going to tackle that other half,
9. 0:15the one that can be way more stressful.
10. 0:18Talking to leadership without completely
11. 0:19losing control of the situation or your
12. 0:22credibility. See, you've got this thing
13. 0:24happening where your engineering teams
14. 0:26are deep in the trenches, right? They're
15. 0:28wrestling with servers, they're digging
16. 0:29through code, but at the exact same time
17. 0:31there's this completely different battle
18. 0:33going on, and that's the leadership
19. 0:34battle. They aren't seeing the logs or
20. 0:37the error rates, they're seeing the
21. 0:38business impact, the angry customer
22. 0:40tweets, the money flying out the window,
23. 0:42and they've got questions that need
24. 0:44answers, and fast. And this is where the
25. 0:46stakes get just incredibly high, because
26. 0:49if you can't translate all that
27. 0:51technical chaos into a clear, confident
28. 0:53message for your leaders, you're not
29. 0:54just creating a little confusion, you
30. 0:56are actively destroying trust. You lose
31. 0:59your credibility, and let me tell you,
32. 1:01once that's gone, it is so hard to get
33. 1:03back. Your communication isn't just an
34. 1:05update, it is a core part of the
35. 1:08incident response. So, to figure out how
36. 1:10to get this right, we've got to first
37. 1:12understand the fundamental problem at
38. 1:13the heart of pretty much every
39. 1:15communication breakdown during an
40. 1:16incident. I like to call it the
41. 1:18leadership language gap. This right here
42. 1:21is that language gap in action. On one
43. 1:24side, you have engineers reporting
44. 1:25exactly what they see. Hey, we're seeing
45. 1:27increased IOPS, or there's some high
46. 1:29query contention, or we're checking the
47. 1:31logs. But what leadership hears is
48. 1:33something totally different. Their brain
49. 1:34automatically translates that jargon
50. 1:36into business problems. How many
51. 1:38customers are actually affected by this?
52. 1:39Are we losing money right now? And of
53. 1:41course, when is this going to be fixed?
54. 1:43It's like they're speaking two
55. 1:44completely different languages.
56. 1:46And this is where you come in. During an
57. 1:48incident, you have to become the major
58. 1:50incident manager, even if that's not
59. 1:52your official title. You're the bridge.
60. 1:55You are the official translator who can
61. 1:56take all those complicated technical
62. 1:58details from one side and turn them into
63. 2:00clear, concise, business-focused
64. 2:02information for the other. It's a
65. 2:04seriously critical role. So, how do you
66. 2:06actually do this translation, especially
67. 2:09when you're under a ton of pressure?
68. 2:11Well, you don't need some complex, fancy
69. 2:13system. All you really need is a simple,
70. 2:16but really powerful framework that I
71. 2:18promise you will answer exactly what
72. 2:20leadership needs to know every single
73. 2:21time. The whole thing boils down to just
74. 2:24four questions. That's it. Number one,
75. 2:26what is the issue? And be simple about
76. 2:28it. Users are unable to complete
77. 2:30payments. Number two, what is the
78. 2:32impact? Get specific. About 70% of our
79. 2:35transactions are failing. Three, what is
80. 2:38being done? Focus on the action. The
81. 2:40database team is investigating. And
82. 2:42four, and this is probably the most
83. 2:44important one, when is the next update?
84. 2:46You'll have another update for me in 15
85. 2:48minutes. No jargon, no guessing, just
86. 2:50the facts.
87. 2:52All right, so let's see how this
88. 2:53framework actually plays out in the real
89. 2:55world. You know, theory is great and
90. 2:56all, but seeing it in action is what's
91. 2:58going to make it stick. We're going to
92. 2:59compare what bad communication sounds
93. 3:01like versus what good, totally in
94. 3:03control communication sounds like.
95. 3:05Now, before we get to the examples,
96. 3:08let's quickly cover the common traps
97. 3:09people fall into.
98. 3:11First up, overloading them with
99. 3:13technical details they just don't need
100. 3:15or understand. Second, giving fuzzy
101. 3:17timelines like "soon" or "we're hoping
102. 3:20to fix it in a bit." That just kills
103. 3:22trust. Third, just staying silent. No
104. 3:25news is always bad news in an incident.
105. 3:28It creates a vacuum and leadership will
106. 3:30fill that vacuum with pure panic. And
107. 3:32finally, just sounding unsure. Your tone
108. 3:35says just as much as your words.
109. 3:37Now, listen to this. Does this sound a
110. 3:39little familiar? Yeah, so we are still
111. 3:41checking. Database might be the issue.
112. 3:44Not fully sure. Team is looking into it.
113. 3:46This is the default for so many of us
114. 3:48when we're under pressure. It's just
115. 3:50full of words like might and maybe and
116. 3:53it gives them almost zero useful
117. 3:54information. It's an update that just
118. 3:56creates more questions than it answers.
119. 3:59Let's just put that statement under a
120. 4:00microscope for a second. What is so
121. 4:02wrong with it? Well, there's absolutely
122. 4:04no clarity on the problem or who it's
123. 4:05affecting. There's no ownership. It
124. 4:07sounds super passive and maybe worst of
125. 4:10all, there is zero confidence. When a
126. 4:11leader hears this, they have every right
127. 4:13to assume that things are completely out
128. 4:15of control and that's exactly when they
129. 4:16start blowing up your phone and
130. 4:18escalating to everyone. Okay, now
131. 4:20contrast that with this. Just listen to
132. 4:23the difference in tone. It's calm, it's
133. 4:25structured, it's factual. It perfectly
134. 4:28answers our four questions. What's the
135. 4:29issue? Users can't complete payments.
136. 4:32What's being done? Our team's found some
137. 4:33database latency. And when's the next
138. 4:35update? 10 minutes. See, it projects
139. 4:38total control. So, what's the magic
140. 4:41here? Well, it's not magic, it's just
141. 4:43discipline. The update is crystal clear,
142. 4:45right? It uses simple language, no tech
143. 4:48speak. It's structured, following a
144. 4:50pattern that leaders are actually going
145. 4:51to get used to. And because of that
146. 4:53clarity and structure, it just radiates
147. 4:55confidence. You're not saying the
148. 4:56problem is fixed, but you are saying
149. 4:59don't worry, we have this under control.
150. 5:02Okay, so now that we've seen the good,
151. 5:04the bad, and the ugly, let's boil all of
152. 5:06this down into an actual playbook. These
153. 5:09are the rules you can take with you and
154. 5:11use in your very next incident. Here are
155. 5:13your golden rules. One, always always
156. 5:16use simple language, no jargon. Period.
157. 5:19Two, keep your updates short and stick
158. 5:21to the structure. Three, stick to the
159. 5:24facts. Don't guess about the root cause.
160. 5:26Four, never ever ever guess a timeline.
161. 5:29It is so much better to say we don't
162. 5:31have an ETA yet than to give a guess and
163. 5:32be wrong. And finally, always give a
164. 5:35time for the next update. This one is
165. 5:37non-negotiable. It's how you control the
166. 5:39conversation.
167. 5:40As the incident moves along, your
168. 5:42updates can get even shorter and more
169. 5:44frequent. This is a perfect example of a
170. 5:46mid-incident update. It clearly shows
171. 5:48you're making progress, a long-running
172. 5:50query identified, and that you're taking
173. 5:52action, mitigation is in progress, and
174. 5:54most importantly, it resets the clock
175. 5:57for the next update, which keeps
176. 5:58leadership in the loop and stops them
177. 6:00from interrupting your teams.
178. 6:02And finally, you got to close the loop.
179. 6:04Announce the resolution clearly, but
180. 6:07notice what else this message does. It
181. 6:09sets expectations for what happens next.
182. 6:11We're going to monitor for a bit, and a
183. 6:13detailed root cause analysis will be
184. 6:15shared later. This shows that you're not
185. 6:16just fixing the immediate problem,
186. 6:18you're also learning from it, so it
187. 6:20doesn't happen again. So, the bottom
188. 6:22line is this. If you want to be a
189. 6:23leader, or even just be seen as one,
190. 6:25this skill is not a nice-to-have. In a
191. 6:28crisis, your ability to communicate with
192. 6:30clarity and confidence becomes your most
193. 6:32powerful and your most visible skill.
194. 6:34It's literally what separates the
195. 6:35technicians from the true incident
196. 6:37commanders. So, I'll just leave you with
197. 6:39this one question. The next major
198. 6:42incident, it's not a matter of if, it's
199. 6:44a matter of when. And when it strikes,
200. 6:46sure, your technical skills are going to
201. 6:48be tested, but your leadership, that's
202. 6:50going to be defined by how you
203. 6:51communicate. So, who's going to be in
204. 6:54control? You or the chaos?