This article examines the importance of managing periods of silence (or ‘dead air’) during high-impact software failure troubleshooting in a team setting. It highlights the critical role of the incident commander in keeping the problem-solving effort moving forward, employing different strategies based on the situation, and the concept of ‘functional dead air’ for effective incident response.
Main Points
Managing Silence
The role of the incident commander involves actively monitoring and managing periods of silence during incident calls to ensure problem-solving efforts continue.
Engagement Strategies
Incident commanders should employ strategies to keep participants engaged and informed, including sharing screens, asking questions, and ensuring newcomers are up-to-date.
Functional Dead Air
Functionally negotiated dead air, with specific objectives and time frames, is essential for effective problem-solving during incident response.
Insights
Silence is natural and often useful but must be monitored by an incident commander.
An effective incident commander must develop a keen ear for silence, understanding its implications in various situations to keep the problem-solving effort moving forward.
Different scenarios require different approaches to handling silence.
The article explores multiple incident scenarios, demonstrating how an incident commander can either break the silence or abide in it, based on the situation.
Functional dead air can be crucial for problem-solving.
Negotiated periods of silence, where an investigator goes silent to chase down a hunch or collect data, can serve a vital role in incident response if they are managed properly.
Links
URL
https://blog.danslimmon.com/2024/03/18/dead-air-on-the-incident-call/