---
type: Template
title: Incident Record Template
description: The scaffold for an incident-lane record (D56) — timeline, impact, root cause, learnings, follow-ups. Authored post-hoc (within 48h of resolution), copied into /planning/prd/ as <id>-incident.md and set as the initiative's prd_path.
tags: [template, incident, lanes, learning]
timestamp: 2026-07-17
---

# Incident Record Template

**Situating context:** Authored with [D56](/okf/products/pmos/adr/d56-initiative-lanes.md) to give
incidents an honest lane: before lanes existed, urgent fixes took the `no-initiative` bypass and
PMOS's most learning-rich events left **no record at all**. The incident lane inverts eval-first
by design — fix first, record within 48h — the one sanctioned inversion. Copy the block below into
`/planning/prd/<id>-incident.md` and fill; set it as the initiative's `prd_path`.

> Usage: create the incident initiative (`type: incident`) as soon as work starts — the record may
> follow the fix, the anchor may not. The 48h window is protocol (AGENTS.md), not CI-enforced:
> honoring it is what keeps the lane honest.

---

```markdown
# Incident Record: <short title>

## Identity
- initiative_id: <id>
- type: incident
- product_slug: <product_slug>
- pm_slug: <pm_slug>
- parent_KR: <objective/KR reference OR health:<id> (D59)>   <!-- REQUIRED — incidents often anchor health:ops. -->
- severity: critical | major | minor
- detected: <YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM UTC>
- resolved: <YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM UTC>
- recorded: <YYYY-MM-DD>                <!-- within 48h of resolution -->

## What happened (timeline)
<!-- Detection → diagnosis → mitigation → resolution, timestamped. Terse; facts over narrative. -->

## Impact
<!-- Who/what was affected, for how long, what it cost. -->

## Root cause
<!-- The actual cause, not the trigger. "Five whys" depth without the ceremony. -->

## Resolution
<!-- What fixed it — link the PR(s)/commits on branch initiative/<id>. -->

## Learnings
<!-- What this taught us about the system or the harness. Also append to discoveries.md
     (#friction where applicable) — this section is the retro; discoveries is the searchable log. -->

## Follow-ups
<!-- Each REAL follow-up is its own lane initiative (usually feature or chore) — listed here by id,
     not silently absorbed into the incident. Empty is honest if the fix is complete. -->
- <initiative id or "none">
```

---

## Authoring checklist

- [ ] Recorded within 48h of resolution (the lane's honesty rule).
- [ ] `parent_KR` present — incidents anchor like everything else.
- [ ] Root cause is a cause, not a symptom or a person.
- [ ] Learnings mirrored to discoveries.md; follow-ups are their own initiatives.