Keep them short
Make runbooks skimmable with a one-page checklist for restart, rollback, and flag disable. Front-load the command snippets, dashboard links, and owner contact so no one hunts during an outage.
Spell out how to know if the service is degraded versus fully down and what "good" looks like. Include the status page component to update for each scenario.
Include owner names, Slack channels, and escalation phone numbers on page one.
Integrate with monitors
Link runbooks directly from alerts and synthetic monitors so responders click once and act. If multiple monitors fire, the runbook should explain which is authoritative.
Embed screenshots or commands to validate fixes. Pre-bake `curl` checks, database queries, and feature-flag toggles so copy/paste is safe and auditable.
Note where to push customer comms: status page, in-app banner, or trust email list.
Core runbook items
- Expected symptoms and dashboards to confirm
- Rollback steps and feature flag toggles
- Customer communication note with template link
Evolve after incidents
After every incident, add a short timeline, what worked, and what was noise. Remove steps that slowed you down or failed in practice.
Rehearse high-risk runbooks quarterly. Time how long it takes to reach mitigation and whether verifications match what dashboards show.
Store runbooks with versioning so you can track who updated them and why.
Make them easy to find
Tag runbooks by service, feature, and customer impact level. Surface the right one inside Slack or PagerDuty using slash commands so on-call does not dig through a wiki.
Keep a printable version for true worst-case scenarios when consoles lag or access is limited.