There are simple incidents.
And there are others… where everything gets complicated.
Because it does not depend on a single team.
It depends on several:
- infrastructure
- applications
- networks
- external suppliers
This is one of the biggest operational challenges:
👉 coordinate without wasting time
In simple
A multi-team incident is one that:
requires the participation of more than one team to be resolved
And the problem is not technical.
👉 is for coordination
What usually happens
When there is no clear process, situations arise such as:
- multiple teams investigating the same thing
- no one knows who is leading
- scattered conversations (mail, chat, calls)
- late decisions
- loss of context
👉 the incident is unnecessarily prolonged
Why are they more difficult?
Because they add complexity on 3 levels:
1. Communication
Each team has:
- its own channel
- its own language
- its own context
👉 aligning all that takes time
2. Responsibility
Typical question:
👉 “is this from us or from another team?”
If it is not clear:
- no one takes control
- or they all do the same
3. Real-time coordination
As the incident occurs:
- decisions must be made
- share information
- fast forward
👉 any delay directly impacts the SLA
So, how to manage them well?
1. Defining an incident owner
Even if several teams participate:
👉 someone must lead
That role:
- coordinates
- prioritizes
- makes decisions
👉 avoid chaos
2. Centralize information
One of the biggest mistakes:
👉 scattered conversations
Everything should be in one place:
- incident status
- advances
- decisions
- responsible
👉 avoid losing context
3. Sharing context from the beginning
When another team is involved:
- should not start from scratch
Must receive:
- what happened
- what has been reviewed
- what is discarded
- what is needed
👉 accelerates resolution
4. Coordinate in real time
During the incident:
- teams must be able to communicate quickly
- make decisions together
- move forward without blockages
👉 no dependence on chain mail
5. Avoid duplication of work
Uncoordinated:
- several teams check the same thing
- time is lost
With visibility:
👉 everyone knows what the other is doing
6. Have traceability
After the incident:
- it is key to understand what happened
You need:
- stock history
- decisions taken
- times
👉 basis for improvement
A simple example
Typical Scenario
- alert arrives
- infrastructure reviews
- application reviews
- networks reviews
- no one coordinates
Result:
👉 delay + confusion
Optimized scenario
- detected alert
- a person in charge is assigned
- necessary equipment is involved
- everyone sees the same information
- centralized progress
Result:
👉 much faster resolution
Something key
Multi-team incidents are not best resolved with more people.
They are best solved with:
👉 better coordination
So, what makes the difference?
It is not only who participates
Otherwise:
👉 how they work together during the incident.
As the operation grows, multi-team incidents become inevitable.
But they should not become chaotic.
With the right approach:
- resolution time is reduced
- avoidance of duplicity
- decision making is improved
If your incidents today involve multiple teams and you feel that coordination is the main bottleneck, the challenge is probably not technical, but management.
24Cevent is evolving to address this issue with a new incident management module (coming soon), which will allow centralized coordination, assigning of responsibility, real-time context sharing and full traceability, facilitating joint work between teams in a single flow.
