How Can I Improve My Incident Response Communication?

We faced a similar problem where our initial plan fell apart during a real incident. To manage the chaos, we focused on a few key aspects: having one centralized incident log, designating a clear incident lead to own updates and decisions, and utilizing automatic documentation instead of collecting everything manually after the fact. While tools are important, I believe discipline in following these practices really helped us stay organized.

One strategy that worked for us was separating the person doing the hands-on work from the responsibility of keeping everyone updated. The technician would report to one designated person who would handle communications. This way, the tech can focus on fixing the issue without interruptions. The comms lead would check in periodically with the tech and relay updates to the rest of the team. It definitely requires all parties to stick to the plan and avoid unnecessary questions, but it made a big difference for us.

Staffing is crucial. You need people dedicated to monitoring and handling level 1 issues, oversight, coordination, and high-level problem-solving. Unfortunately, many companies try to cut corners by having a single person or a small group do everything, which just leads to chaos in high-pressure situations. Having defined roles really helps.

Some practices that have worked well for teams I work with include designating a single triage channel for communication, scheduling regular executive updates even if there are no new developments, and assigning someone to document decisions in real-time. Also, consider running 'chaos drills' to test your communication strategy under stress. At my company, we’ve got tools integrated with Slack to organize incident discussions, which has significantly reduced the confusion from multiple chat threads. Is Slack your main tool for this, or do you use other methods?