Past Tenses in Incident Reports and Postmortems
0 / 10 completed
1 / 10
An incident timeline reads: "At 03:14 UTC, the on-call engineer _____ when the first alert fired."
Which tense correctly describes an action in progress at the moment of the alert?
Which tense correctly describes an action in progress at the moment of the alert?
Was sleeping is correct. Past continuous (was + -ing) describes an action in progress at a specific moment in the past. "At 03:14 UTC" is the reference point; the sleeping was ongoing. "Slept" (simple past) describes a completed action — it does not convey ongoing background context. "Had slept" (past perfect) implies the sleeping was completed before the alert — that reverses the intended meaning. "Has slept" (present perfect) cannot be used for past time references.
2 / 10
A postmortem states: "The service _____ degraded for 20 minutes before the monitoring system generated an alert."
Which tense correctly shows that degradation preceded the alert?
Which tense correctly shows that degradation preceded the alert?
Had been is correct. Past perfect continuous (had been + -ing) describes an action that was ongoing before a reference point in the past (the alert). The degradation started 20 minutes before the alert fired — making the alert the narrative reference point. "Was" is past continuous but does not establish the earlier-than relationship. "Has been" is present perfect continuous — it cannot be used in past narrative.
3 / 10
A root cause analysis reads: "The engineer _____ the wrong configuration file before running the migration script."
Which tense sequence is most accurate for establishing that the configuration error preceded the migration?
Which tense sequence is most accurate for establishing that the configuration error preceded the migration?
Had edited is correct. Past perfect (had + past participle) places the configuration change earlier than the migration — establishing the causal sequence. "Edited" (simple past) could be used if the events are listed in strict chronological order, but "had edited" is more precise when the order matters and one event caused the other. "Was editing" describes the action as ongoing at the time of the migration — not the intended meaning. "Has edited" is present perfect — invalid in past narrative.
4 / 10
A changelog entry reads: "Resolved: the service _____ incorrect connection strings after the environment variables were rotated."
Which tense best describes the resolved bug behaviour?
Which tense best describes the resolved bug behaviour?
Was using is correct. Past continuous is appropriate here because the incorrect usage was an ongoing state that was happening as a consequence of the rotation — it frames the bug as a background condition, not just a one-time event. "Used" (simple past) is also possible but describes the bug as a single completed event, losing the sense of ongoing bad state. "Had used" (past perfect) implies it stopped before another past event — but no other past event is mentioned to create that relationship. "Uses" (present simple) would imply the bug is unfixed.
5 / 10
Which tense sequence is most accurate in this incident summary?
Option C is best. Events in a strict chronological sequence in narrative past can all use simple past: "filled up, crashed, fired." Each event completes before the next. Option A uses past perfect for the first event unnecessarily — past perfect is only needed when the sequence needs explicit clarification (not here). Option B mixes present simple ("fills") with past, breaking tense consistency. Option D creates a contradictory sequence (continuous before perfect) and ends with present tense.
6 / 10
A postmortem timeline says: "At 14:32 UTC, the deploy pipeline _____ when it encountered a network timeout."
Which tense correctly frames the failure?
Which tense correctly frames the failure?
Was running is correct. The pipeline was in progress (past continuous) when it encountered the timeout — the timeout is the interrupting event. Past continuous + simple past is the standard structure for "activity in progress when another event interrupted it." "Ran" (simple past) treats the running as a completed event, losing the sense of interruption. "Had run" (past perfect) implies the pipeline completed before the timeout — reversing causality. "Runs" is present tense, invalid in a past narrative.
7 / 10
An SRE writes: "By the time we received the customer complaint, the error rate _____ to 45%."
Which tense correctly shows that the error rate reached 45% before the complaint?
Which tense correctly shows that the error rate reached 45% before the complaint?
Had climbed is correct. "By the time" introduces a reference point (the complaint), and past perfect establishes that the error rate had already reached 45% before that point. "Climbed" (simple past) would place both events at the same time or in ambiguous sequence. "Was climbing" (past continuous) implies the rate was still rising at the moment of the complaint — which is possible, but "had climbed to 45%" more precisely marks a completed ascent. "Has climbed" is present perfect — invalid here.
8 / 10
A blameless postmortem reads: "The team _____ the new caching layer for three weeks before the race condition was discovered."
Which tense best describes the duration of the activity before discovery?
Which tense best describes the duration of the activity before discovery?
Had been operating is correct. Past perfect continuous (had been + -ing) expresses duration of an action that continued up to a reference point in the past (the discovery). "Had been operating for three weeks" conveys both the ongoing nature and the completed duration. "Was operating" (past continuous) describes the action as in progress but does not convey the three-week duration clearly. "Operated" (simple past) with "for three weeks" is grammatically possible but less precise about the ongoing nature. "Has been operating" is present perfect continuous — invalid in past narrative.
9 / 10
Which sentence uses past tenses INCORRECTLY in an incident report?
Option C is incorrect. "The database had replicated successfully before the primary had failed" uses past perfect in both clauses. Past perfect cannot appear in both the main clause and the before-clause — the temporal subordinator "before" already establishes the sequence. Correct phrasing: "The database had replicated successfully before the primary failed" (using simple past in the before-clause). Options A, B, and D all use past tenses correctly.
10 / 10
A deployment description in a changelog reads: "v3.2.1 _____ at 16:00 UTC. The migration script _____ all user records to the new schema."
Which pair of simple past verbs is most appropriate for a factual changelog entry?
Which pair of simple past verbs is most appropriate for a factual changelog entry?
Deployed / migrated is correct. Changelog entries use simple past active voice for factual description of what happened. "Deployed" and "migrated" are simple past active: clear, direct, and appropriate for a technical record. "Was deployed / migrated" is passive — acceptable but less direct for a changelog. "Deploys / migrates" is present simple — sometimes used for release notes ("v3.2.1 fixes the login bug") but less natural for describing past deployments. "Had deployed / had migrated" is past perfect — adds unnecessary complexity for a simple sequential log entry.