What is a 'customer-facing post-incident summary'?
A customer-facing post-incident summary is a public or semi-public document that explains the incident in plain language — what happened, impact, root cause summary, and prevention steps.
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Which sections are standard in a customer-facing incident summary?
A customer-facing incident summary typically includes: Summary, Timeline, Root Cause (in accessible language), Impact, and What We Are Doing / Preventive Actions.
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How should root cause be described in a customer-facing summary?
Root cause in a customer-facing summary should be in plain English — 'A configuration change prevented our load balancer from routing traffic correctly' — not technical jargon.
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What does 'what we are doing' communicate to customers?
'What we are doing' section lists concrete, specific preventive actions — 'We are adding automated deployment validation tests' — demonstrating accountability and action.
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What tone should a customer-facing post-incident summary use?
The correct tone is transparent, accountable, and forward-looking. Customers trust companies that acknowledge failures honestly and explain credible preventive measures.