Writing a blameless postmortem requires precise language. Phrases like identify root cause and assign action items appear in every SRE postmortem template. This quiz helps you use them correctly.
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The first step in writing a postmortem is to ___ the incident timeline accurately.
Capture the timeline is the standard incident postmortem collocation. It means to collect and arrange events in chronological order. 'Record' is close but more passive. 'Write' and 'document' refer to the output, not the investigative act. Capture implies active gathering from logs, alerts, and team recall.
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The postmortem must ___ the root cause without assigning personal blame.
Identify root cause is the fixed postmortem collocation. It means to trace the incident to its systemic origin, not just its symptoms. 'Find' is informal. 'Determine' is close but more judicial. 'Discover' implies unexpectedness. Identify root cause is the standard blameless postmortem language used by SRE teams.
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At the end of the meeting, the team will ___ action items to prevent recurrence.
Assign action items is the standard postmortem collocation for linking each remediation task to a named owner. 'Give' is informal. 'Distribute' implies splitting equally. 'Allocate' is used for resources. Assign specifies ownership and accountability, which is critical for effective follow-through after incidents.
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Once all action items are verified as done, the on-call team can formally ___ the incident.
Close the incident is the formal ITSM and SRE collocation for officially marking an incident as fully resolved and documented. 'End' is too casual. 'Resolve' means to fix the immediate problem, not the full process. 'Finish' is informal. Close signifies the administrative and procedural completion.
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The SRE lead will ___ the postmortem findings with the wider engineering organization.
Share findings is the natural postmortem collocation for disseminating what was learned from an incident. 'Publish' is for formal documentation. 'Circulate' is for documents via email. 'Present' is for live demos. Share findings implies a culture of transparency and organizational learning after incidents.