Blameless Demo 2023

Summary

Nick Mason, a Solutions Engineer at Blameless, demonstrates how to initiate and manage an incident using their platform integrated with Slack. He manually starts an incident labeled 'API Gateway is down', affecting the payment process. Blameless automates incident management by setting up communication channels, notifying stakeholders, and establishing a playbook. The script highlights custom fields for incident responders, GDPR compliance notifications, and a post-incident retrospective process. It also showcases how Blameless collects data for reliability insights to improve operational performance.

Takeaways

• 🚀 **Blameless Integration**: Nick Mason uses Blameless to integrate incident management with communication platforms like Slack.
• 🔍 **Incident Initiation**: Incidents can be started manually or automatically triggered by alerts or SLO breaches.
• 📋 **Custom Fields**: Blameless allows custom fields for incident reporting, aiding in standardization and workflow automation.
• 🌐 **Global Impact**: Incidents can specify regions affected, crucial for global teams.
• 📢 **Automated Communication**: Blameless automates communication with stakeholders and team members during incidents.
• 📈 **Dynamic Response**: The platform supports dynamic incident handling, adapting to new information quickly.
• 💡 **GDPR Compliance**: Blameless helps in GDPR compliance by notifying affected customers automatically.
• 🔗 **Incident Bookmarks**: Links to retrospectives and other resources are provided within the Slack channel for post-incident analysis.
• 🔍 **Retrospective Customization**: Blameless allows customization of retrospectives to fit team needs.
• 📊 **Insights and Analytics**: Incident data feeds into reliability insights for operational performance analysis.
• 🛠️ **Founder-Led Innovation**: Blameless is built on the firsthand experiences of its founders, aiming to solve common incident management pain points.

Q & A

What is Nick Mason's role at Blameless?

Nick Mason is a Principal Solutions Engineer at Blameless.

How does Blameless assist in incident management?

Blameless assists in incident management by automating the setup of incident channels, notifying stakeholders, bringing team members into the incident channel, and establishing a playbook to resolve incidents faster.

What communication platforms does Blameless integrate with?

Blameless integrates with platforms like Slack and Microsoft Teams for incident management.

How can Blameless initiate an incident?

Blameless can initiate an incident automatically in response to an alert or when an SLO budget is depleted.

What type of incident is Nick Mason starting in the script?

Nick Mason is starting a customer incident labeled as 'API Gateway is down' that affects customers at the payment step in the checkout process.

What custom fields can be programmed in Blameless for incident responders?

Custom fields can include impacted services, number of customers impacted, customer names, and regions affected.

How does Blameless help with GDPR compliance?

Blameless helps with GDPR compliance by automatically sending emails to affected customers and notifying internal leadership when a customer incident is tagged with 'Amia'.

What is the purpose of incident bookmarks in Blameless?

Incident bookmarks in Blameless provide links to retrospectives and other resources that are automatically created during an incident.

How does Blameless support post-incident retrospectives?

Blameless supports post-incident retrospectives by automatically curating information from the incident timeline, tags, and other data points, and allowing customization to fit team needs.

What insights can be gained from Blameless's reliability insights?

Reliability insights in Blameless can help identify where teams spend the most time and money, monitor which on-call teams are most overtaxed, and analyze recurring issues and themes from past incidents.

What kind of customization does Blameless offer for retrospectives?

Blameless offers customization for retrospectives, including custom questions, live commenting for real-time collaboration, and the ability to use tools like Google Docs for post-mortems.