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Write a blameless incident memo with four fixed headings

  • For Managers and team leads
  • You practice Getting the tone right
  • Time about 5 minutes
  • Level Advanced

About this exercise

Write the memo for the VP of Customer Success. Use these four headings in capitals, in this order, each on its own line: WHAT HAPPENED, WHY IT HAPPENED, WHAT WE CHANGE, OPEN QUESTIONS. Name no individual as a cause. WHAT WE CHANGE has exactly 3 lines, each with an owner and a date. Plain text, under 170 words in total.

Common mistakes when you ask AI for this

  • Blaming a person or team. The AI repeats the chat excerpts, which point at Dev and Support. Try: Say: "Blameless: describe process gaps, name no individual or team as the cause."
  • Using the draft time. The AI picks 09:10 from the correction note. Try: Say: "The failure began at 09:40, as the log confirms."
  • Leaving out owners and dates. The AI writes actions as general intentions. Try: Say: "Exactly 3 action lines, each with an owner and a date from the notes."
  • Promising a credit. The AI adds that a credit will be issued. Try: Say: "List the credit as an open question; do not decide it."
  • Getting markdown back. AI adds bold and headings by default, which show up as stray symbols where this is pasted. Try: Say "plain text, no bold, no headings, no asterisks".
  • Trusting the AI to count words. The AI runs long and cannot count its own words. Try: Cap each part ("each line under 12 words") and add "under N words in total".

What a strong prompt includes

  • Names the four headings
  • Asks for blameless wording
  • Requires owner and date
  • Says to use the log time
  • Asks for plain text
  • Sets a word cap

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