Prod just fell over. You have 5 minutes before the screaming starts. What do you do? Let’s lay out the path to getting moving without panicking, hopefully before your boss appears at your shoulder.

If you haven’t ever been in a position where production fell over while you’re on call, you eventually will be. One great way to avoid just sitting there in terror is having a rough framework of what to do in your mind before you need it. This step-by-step troubleshooting process has worked for me countless times, and I’d like to share it with all of you.