Template Design Guide
Create clear, effective, and reusable templates that your team loves using.
Golden Rules
- • Clarity over cleverness — People are stressed. Be clear.
- • Action-oriented — Tell people what to do or what to expect
- • Audience-first — Write for the reader, not yourself
- • Short and scannable — Use headers, bullets, bold text
- • Skip the jargon — Assume non-technical readers
Template Structure
Subject/Header
[INCIDENT] {severity} — {title}
Make it scannable. Include severity so people know how urgent it is.
What's happening?
"We're experiencing a {severity} issue affecting {affected_systems}."
Keep it to 1-2 sentences. One main idea per sentence.
Impact
"This affects: {impact}"
Be specific. "Users can't log in" beats "service degradation."
ETA
"ETA: {eta} | Status: {status}"
Always include ETA. Even "investigating" is better than nothing.
Next Steps (optional)
"What you can do: {action}"
If there's a workaround, mention it. If not, say "stand by for updates."
Example: Good vs. Bad
❌ Bad (Confusing)
Database sharding issue detected in primary cluster. API endpoints experiencing elevated latency due to query optimization inefficiencies.
✓ Good (Clear)
What: Database is slow
Impact: Some pages loading slowly
ETA: 3:30 PM
Workaround: Try clearing cache
Avoid These
- • Blame or defensiveness ("This isn't our fault")
- • Excessive apologies ("We're SO sorry...")
- • Vague timelines ("Soon", "ASAP", "shortly")
- • Jargon without explanation ("API latency", "failover")
- • Multiple paragraphs (break into bullets)