Meaning
Prioritisation process for system failures determines the order of response based on the severity of the impact and the resources available. During a crisis, incident triage allows a team to quickly identify which problems need immediate attention and which can wait. This prevents the waste of energy on minor issues while a major outage goes unaddressed.
The process is complete when every active issue has an assigned level of urgency and a person responsible for the fix.
Severity Assessment
Categorizing the damage to the business is the first step in managing an emergency. Engineers look at how many users are affected and whether any data has been lost or corrupted. This assessment dictates the level of resources that the company will commit to the recovery.
Founder Involvement
Deciding when to step into a crisis is a matter of triage for the founder. If an incident reaches a high enough severity, the founder must decide whether to take control or allow the manager to lead. This choice carries a cost in terms of capacity and the development of the team.
Constant interference during a low-level incident prevents managers from learning how to handle pressure. However, waiting too long to intervene during a major failure can result in permanent damage to the company reputation. Triage provides the logic for this decision, ensuring the founder only spends their limited hours on the most dangerous threats.
Recovery Speed
Establishing a clear order of operations reduces the time it takes to restore service. Teams do not waste minutes arguing over what to do first because the triage rules are already in place. This efficiency is the difference between a minor hiccup and a public disaster that costs the company millions.