smith-postmortem

Guide structured, blameless incident postmortems with root cause analysis and action-item tracking.

1|Updated Nov 25, 2025
One-click install
npx skills add https://github.com/tianjianjiang/smith --skill smith-postmortem
Or copy as Structured Prompt for Agent
Please help me install this Agent Skill.
Skill: smith-postmortem
Source: https://github.com/tianjianjiang/smith/tree/main/smith-postmortem
Command: npx skills add https://github.com/tianjianjiang/smith --skill smith-postmortem

SYSTEM DOCUMENTATION & REQUIREMENTS

What problem does it solve?

Incident postmortems are essential for learning from outages and reducing recurrence. This Skill provides a structured methodology, templates, and best practices to run blameless, timely root-cause analyses and produce actionable improvements.

Core Features & Use Cases

  • Structured templates for incident summary, impact assessment, timeline, root cause analysis, resolution steps, and action items to standardize post-incident reviews.
  • Blameless principles that focus on systems and processes rather than individuals, enabling constructive learning across teams.
  • Methodologies and guidance like Five Whys, fishbone analysis, and timeline reconstruction to identify root causes and prevention strategies.
  • Use cases include post-incident reviews, postmortems in engineering orgs, and the creation of runbooks from learnings.

Quick Start

Start a postmortem by running a guided review workflow to draft an incident summary, capture impact, and assign action items.

Frequently Asked Questions about smith-postmortem

High-intent search queries and answers about installing and using this skill.

FAQPage Schema
How do I conduct a blameless postmortem after an engineering incident?

To conduct a blameless postmortem, you guide a structured review focusing on systems and processes rather than individuals to extract constructive learnings from outages. This approach uses structured templates to standardize incident summaries, impact assessments, and timelines.

What is the best way to perform root cause analysis for an outage?

The best way to perform root cause analysis is applying methodologies like Five Whys and fishbone analysis within a structured postmortem template. This identifies the underlying systemic causes and generates actionable prevention strategies.

How do I write a postmortem report with actionable action items?

You write a postmortem report by using a structured template to document the incident summary, resolution steps, and timeline. The template ensures you track clear action items and assign accountability for future improvements.

When do I need a structured template for post-incident reviews?

You need a structured template for post-incident reviews when standardizing postmortems across teams to reduce incident recurrence. It ensures consistent capture of impact assessments, root cause analysis, and accountability for action items.

Can I use fishbone analysis and Five Whys together in a postmortem?

Yes, you can use fishbone analysis and Five Whys together in a postmortem to identify root causes and prevention strategies. These methodologies work synergistically within the structured, blameless review workflow to extract learnings.

Does a blameless postmortem template help create runbooks from learnings?

Yes, a blameless postmortem template helps create runbooks from learnings by standardizing the capture of resolution steps and action items. This translates post-incident analysis into actionable operational improvements.